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BS  2415  .A2  T4  v. 6 
Teachings  of  Jesus 
concerning  the  . . . 


THE  TEACHINGS  OF  JESUS 
Edited  by  JOHN  H.  KERR,  D.  D. 


THE    TEACHING    OF   JESUS 

CONCERNING 

CHRISTIAN  CONDUCT 


Andrew  C.  Zenos,  D.  D. 


Copyright,  igo^,  by 
AMERICAN  TRACT  SOCIETY 


TO  MY  WIFE 

WHOSE    CONSISTENT    CHRISTIAN    DISCIPLESHIP 

HAS    THROWN    A    FLOOD    OF    LIGHT    ON 

THE    SUBJECT    OF    THIS    BOOK. 


PREFACE 

rHE  subject  of  this  little  book 
will  be  at  once  recognized  as  a 
very  large  and  important  one. 
Broadly  defined,  it  has  often  been  made 
the  theme  of  full  and  detailed  treatment. 
The  justification  for  a  new  presentation 
of  it  does  not  lie  in  the  fact  of  a  need  for  a 
thorough  and  extensive  reinvestigation  of 
it,  but  rather  of  a  call  for  a  condensed  and 
brief  restatement  in  popular  form  of  the 
essentials  of  Jesus'  thought.  In  such  an 
effort,  the  processes  by  which  results  are 
reached  are  necessarily  left  out  of  sight. 
Notes  have  been  carefully  avoided,  ex- 
cept in  two  or  three  instances  where  their 

vii 


viii  Preface 

insertion  seemed  to  be  more  than  usually 
illuminative.  Of  course,  it  will  be  easily 
understood  that  exhaustiveness  could  not 
have  been  expected,  and  has  not  been 
aimed  at  in  such  a  brief  treatment  of  the 
subject.  The  general  principles  alone 
are  given.  The  reader  who  is  desirous 
of  pursuing  the  subject  into  minuter  de- 
tails will  know  where  to  find  these  ade- 
quately treated. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

I.  Introductory i 

II.  The     Christian  Man  :    Presupposi- 
tions OF  Christian  Conduct.     .  14 

III.  The      Antecedents      of      Christ's 

Teaching  on  Conduct.     ...  29 

IV.  The      Mainspring     of     Christian 

Conduct 43 

V.  The  Comprehensive  Rule   of  Con- 
duct :  The  Golden  Rule.     .     .  60 

VI.  Self-Culture 71 

VII.  The  Sabbath 85 

VIII.  The  Christian  IN  Social  Relations.  97 

IX.  The  Christian  in  the  State.     .     .112 

X.  The  Christian  in  the  Family.      .  123 

XI.  The  Christian  in  Business.    .     .     .136 

XII.  The  Christian  in  the  Church.      .  146 

XIII.  Summary 158 

Indices 163 

ix 


CHAPTER  I 

INTRODUCTORY. 

The  Sources. 

rHE  critical  questions  regarding 
the  Gospels  are,  for  good  or  for 
ill,  before  the  Christian  public, 
and  it  does  not  become  those  who  wish 
to  have  a  perfect  knowledge  of  the  mind 
of  Christ  to  ignore  them.  It  is  not  nec- 
essary, however,  in  the  study  of  a  special 
department  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus  to 
rehearse  the  processes  by  which  results 
are  reached.  The  results,  no  doubt,  de- 
pend largely  on  the  methods  employed, 
and  the  methods  are  complex,  taking  for 

A  I 


2  Christian  Conduct 

granted  in  many  instances  what  stands  in 
need  of  ample  demonstration.  Partly  on 
account  of  their  complexity,  leaving  it 
open  to  the  critic  to  emphasize  some 
elements  or  stages  in  them  and  minimize 
or  pass  over  others,  and  partly  because  of 
personal  points  of  view,  the  results 
reached  by  different  critics  and  schools 
of  criticism  differ  widely. 

On  the  one  side  stand  those  who  can 
find  nothing  in  the  Gospelsof  what  Jesus 
said  with  the  possible  exception  of  a  few 
colorless  utterances,*  on  the  other  those 
who  regard  everything  reported  by  the 
evangelists  as  spoken  verbatim  et  literatim 
by  the  Lord  Himself  ;  and  between  these 
many  shades  and  varieties  of  interpreters. 
The  success  of  our  own  task  depends  less 
on  our  reaching  the  exact  phraseology  of 
our  sources  and  more  on  a  thorough  ap- 
preciation of  the  general  spirit  and  prin- 
ciples of  Jesus.  There  can  be  no  ques- 
tion regarding  the  great  moral    change 

*  Schmiedel,  in  Encycl.  Bibl.,  art.,  "  Gospels." 


Introductory  3 

which  He  wrought  in  the  conduct  of 
His  disciples  ;  and  indirectly  through  the 
contagion  of  their  example,  as  well  as 
through  the  force  of  their  teachings, 
upon  multitudes  of  others  in  the  apostolic 
generation.  Even  those  who  can  see  no 
more  than  nine,  more  or  less,  genuine 
sayings  of  Jesus  in  the  Gospels  must  ad- 
mit that  the  Master  uttered  such  things 
as  those  reported.  In  what  words  He 
uttered  them  is  a  matter  of  comparatively 
less  importance  to  those  who  attempt  to 
identify  the  general  outline  and  spirit  of 
His  teaching  rather  than  its  precise  forms 
and  ramifications. 

To  avoid  misunderstanding,  however, 
we  may  say  that  we  hold  the  evangelists 
to  be  correct  reporters  of  Jesus'  word. 
There  is  a  certain  uniqueness  about  these 
words,  a  certain  characteristic  ring,  which 
it  is  impossible  to  believe  the  simple  and 
uneducated  men  the  Apostles  are  known 
to  have  been,  could  have  infused  into 
them.     There  is,  moreover,  a  verisimili- 


4  Christian  Conduct 

tude  in  the  theory  that  these  reports  are 
generally  speaking  verbal  reproductions 
of  what  Jesus  said.  The  time  and  the 
place  were  propitious  for  the  reception 
and  repetition  of  maxims  and  parables 
such  as  we  find  in  the  evangelic  narra- 
tives. The  practice  was  common  in  the 
schools  for  the  teacher  to  frame  his 
thought  in  some  striking,  carefully- 
balanced  sentence  or  similitude  and  thus 
profoundly  to  impress  it  on  the  minds  of 
his  disciples.  The  disciples  could,  and 
did,  then  go  forth  and  repeat  His  utter- 
ance with  literal  exactness.  In  the  Wis- 
dom form  of  the  **  Saying  "  {JLogioit)y 
a  special  literary  vehicle  was  developed, 
admirably  suited  to  this  end.  It  em- 
bodied in  a  symmetrical  and  rhythmical 
couplet  or  triplet,  a  teaching  worthy  of 
being  remembered  and  disseminated. 
The  Wisdom  form  may  not  have  been 
used  by  Jesus  Himself  as  extensively  as 
some  scholars  would  have  us  believe*  but 

*  Briggs,  Ethical  Teaching  of  Jesus. 


Introductory  5 

it  was  manifestly  used  by  all  the  public 
teachers  of  the  day.  That  many  utter- 
ances of  Jesus  had  been  preserved  in  the 
form  of  the  "Saying"  is  put  beyond 
question,  apart  from  the  Gospels  them- 
selves, by  the  groups  of  Sayings  (Logia) 
of  Jesus  recently  brought  to  light  by 
Messrs.  Grenfell  and  Hunt. 

Upon  the  whole  the  critical  considera- 
tions support  the  belief  that  the  words  as- 
cribed to  Jesus  in  the  Gospels  are  His, 
and  that  we  have  in  them  no  mythological 
growths  but  actual  historical  speeches 
embodying  His  distinctive  thought.* 


*  Wernle,  who  cannot  be  accused  of  leaning  towards  the  tra- 
ditional or  anticritical  views  on  questions  of  criticism  in  the 
New  Testament,  says  of  Matthew  :  "  Without  any  additions  of 
his  own,  merely  by  selecting  the  words  of  eternal  life,  he  has 
bequeathed  to  us  a  picture  of  all  that  is  essential  in  Christian- 
ity, which  is  striking  in  its  grandeur "  {Beginnings  of  Chris- 
tianity, l.'pY>-  148,  149)-  Jiilicher,  another  representative  of 
thorough-going  criticism  in  the  New  Testament  sphere,  says : 
"  The  true  merit  of  the  synoptists  is  that,  in  spite  of  all  the 
poetical  touches  they  employ,  they  did  not  repaint,  but  only 
handed  on  the  Christ  of  history."  And  again,  "  As  a  rule,  there 
lies  in  all  the  synoptic  Logia  a  kernel  of  individual  character 


6  Christian   Conduct 

But  when  the  four  Gospels  are  com- 
pared with  one  another,  even  in  the  most 
casual  manner,  there  emerge  certain  ques- 
tions concerning  their  mutual  relations. 
The  first  three  and  the  fourth  are  at  once 
seen  to  stand  upon  different  levels.  The 
first  question,  therefore,  is  as  to  the  origin 
and  meaning  of  this  difference.  The  first 
three  again  are  seen  to  be  more  similar 
in  language  and  plan  of  arrangement  than 
could  be  accounted  for  by  the  mere  fact 
that  they  were  dealing  with  one  common 
subject.  The  second  question  is  thus  as 
to  the  origin  and  meaning  of  the  similar- 
ities of  the  first  three.  As  these  three 
are  called  the  Synoptic  Gospels,  this  second 
question  has  been  called  the  Synoptic 
Problem. 

To  enter  at  all  adequately  into  the  dis- 
cussion of  the  Synoptic  problem  would 
take  us  too  far  from  our  immediate  theme 
and  require  more  space  than  can  possibly 

so  inimitable  and  so  fresh  that  their  authenticity  is  above  all 
suspicion."     {Introduciion  to  the  New  Testament,  pp.  371,  372.) 


Introductory  7 

be  given  to  it  in  our  little  treatise.  To 
treat  of  it  but  casually  would  be  useless. 
It  is  far  better  to  dismiss  the  subject  with 
the  affirmation  of  our  conviction  that  the 
net  result  of  the  discussion  will  be  a 
clearer  conception  of  the  teaching  of  Jesus 
and  a  fuller  knowledge  of  what  He 
thought,  planned  and  did. 

The  relation  of  the  Gospel  of  John  to 
the  Synoptic  Gospels  is  also  a  larger  sub- 
ject than  can  be  properly  treated  in  as 
brief  a  way  as  our  space  permits.  Never- 
theless, this  can  be  said,  that  whatever 
differences  may  emerge  elsewhere  be- 
tween the  first  three  and  the  fourth  Gos- 
pels, in  the  sphere  of  ethical  teaching,  ab- 
solutely no  differences  have  been  pointed 
out.  The  Jesus  of  John  holds  up  the 
same  ideals,  illustrates  the  same  funda- 
mental principles,  and  rouses  the  same 
impulses  and  motives  of  conduct  as  the 
Jesus  of  the  Synoptists.  If  the  Fourth 
Gospel  presents  the  conduct  of  the  fol- 
lower of  Jesus  in  a  clearer  light,  it  is  not 


8  Christian  Conduct 

because  the  author  has  added  anything 
essential  of  his  own  creation  to  the  Mas- 
ter's ideas,  but  because  he  was  writing  at 
a  time  when  experience  had  enabled  him 
to  realize  more  of  their  infinite  stretch 
and  richness,  and  to  see  deeper  into  their 
inner  life  and  more  broadly  into  their 
bearing. 

Jesus   Interest  in   Conduct 

Another  point  in  question  may  be  dis- 
missed with  a  single  word.  It  is  that 
of  the  exact  outlook  of  Jesus  into  the 
future.  It  is  held  on  one  side  that 
Jesus  saw  the  Kingdom  of  God  which 
He  preached  as  in  the  future  (not  in  the 
distant  future,  but  in  the  immediate)  as  a 
consummation  to  be  realized  by  a  sudden 
manifestation  of  the  power  of  God,  carry- 
ing with  it  the  destruction  of  the  world- 
powers  and  the  establishment  of  the 
Messianic  reign.  It  is  held  on  the  other 
side  that  Jesus  looked  upon  the  Kingdom 
as  already  established  by  His  own  coming 


Introductory  9 

into  the  world,  and  that  He  foresaw  for 
it  a  long  development  upon  earth.  Our 
own  view  coincides  more  nearly  with  the 
latter  position ;  but  whether  one  or  the 
other  of  these  positions  be  true,  His  teach- 
ing on  conduct  is  not  materially  affected. 
It  remains  true  that  Jesus  commended 
to  His  disciples  the  same  kind  of  moral 
conduct  whether  the  world  were  to  last 
ten  milleniums  or  twenty-four  hours. 
They  were  to  live  the  same  kind  of  life 
whether  they  expected  the  Kingdom  to 
be  ushered  in  some  time  in  the  future,  no 
matter  how  soon  or  how  late,  or  accepted 
it  as  already  in  operation  and  calling  upon 
them  to  obey  its  laws. 

But  did  Jesus  after  all  concern  Himself 
with  conduct  at  all  ?  Was  He  not  rather 
a  Teacher  of  truth,  a  Revealer  of  God  and 
heaven,  and  of  the  way  of  eternal  life  ? 
If  by  conduct  be  meant  simply  a  manner 
of  outward  bearing  towards  those  with 
whom  one  has  to  do  in  earthly  relations, 
and  if  this  manner  of  acting  is  conceived 


lo  Christian  Conduct 

of  as  beginning  and  ending  with  these 
relations,  then  we  may  say  that  Jesus  was 
but  little  concerned  with  mere  conduct. 
But  if  conduct  is  the  fruit  of  an  inner 
knowledge  of  self  and  of  God  and  of  one's 
destiny,  then  it  was  not  possible  for  Jesus 
to  disregard  or  minimize  it.  The  ques- 
tion, Did  Jesus  lay  down  a  law  of  conduct, 
or  did  He  teach  a  doctrine  of  God  ?  be- 
comes in  this  light  an  irrelevant  one. 
**  Conduct  "  says  Matthew  Arnold,  **  is 
three-fourths  of  life."  If  so,  it  is  the 
three-fourths  that  is  exposed  to  view. 
The  other  fourth  is  not  in  itself  open  to 
observation.  But  its  existence  and  nature 
must  necessarily  be  evinced  by  that 
which  is  visible.  Neither  the  visible 
three-fourths  nor  the  invisible  one-fourth, 
however,  can  be  separated  from  one  an- 
other. 

To  put  the  case  in  other  words,  we 
may  say  that  Jesus  is  concerned  first  of 
all  and  throughout  with  the  salvation  of 
men.     He  teaches  truth  ;  He  stimulates 


Introductory  1 1 

desire ;  He  arouses  aspirations ;  He 
awakens  loves  and  hatreds,  love  of  that 
which  is  noble  and  good,  hatred  of  that 
which  is  mean  and  destructive  ;  He  calls 
to  repentance  and  He  promises  forgive- 
ness ;  and  all  in  order  that  men  may  be 
brought  to  the  saving  knowledge  of  God 
the  Father,  and  received  into  the  Kingdom 
He  had  established.  The  impartation 
of  knowledge  has  a  very  important  func- 
tion in  the  bringing  about  of  this  result; 
so  has  the  quickening  of  desire  and  aspira- 
tion. But  only  when  these  burst  out  in- 
to the  blossom  and  fruit  of  conduct,  does 
the  full  revelation  of  the  work  of  Jesus 
come. 

His  own  description  of  His  mission  is 
given  in  the  words  '*  I  came  that  they 
may  have  life  "  (John  x.  10).  The  nature 
and  results  of  this  life  He  further  de- 
scribes in  the  allegory  of  the  Vine  and 
the  Branches.  As  the  life  of  the  branches 
is  tested  by  their  fruit-bearing,  so  the  life 
of  His  followers  is  tested  by  right  think- 


12  Christian  Conduct 

ing  about  Him  and  His  teaching,  and  by 
right  conduct  under  His  guidance. 

Conduct  and  Life 

What  now  is  the  sphere  of  Christian 
Conduct  and  how  is  it  differentiated  from 
that  of  Christian  Life  ?  Life  is  a  term 
which  does  not  easily  lend  itself  to  clear 
definition.  And  yet,  on  the  other  hand, 
it  is  a  term  whose  meaning  is  not  easily 
mistaken.  The  Christian  life  is  the  whole 
spiritual  movement  which  begins  with 
the  appearance  of  Christ  before  the  soul, 
and  the  soul's  acceptance  of  Him  as  the 
revelation  of  God  the  Father.  This 
movement  necessarily  includes  an  inner 
and  an  outer  development.  As  an  inner 
movement,  it  begins  with  the  quickening 
of  spiritual  insight,  the  apprehension  of 
Christ  as  the  Redeemer  from  sin,  and 
the  surrender  of  one's  will  and  affections 
to  Him  as  the  Lord. 

As  an  outward  movement,  it  consists 
in  regulating  one's  relations  to  God  and 


Introductory  13 

to  the  world  of  animate  and  inanimate 
beings,  so  as  to  carry  out  certain  ideas 
and  actualize  certain  ideals  which  have 
entered  into  one's  purview  through  Christ. 
And  this  is  Christian  conduct.  Our  in- 
quiry will,  therefore,  take  the  direction 
of  a  search  for  the  guidance  which  Jesus 
furnishes  to  His  followers  as  they  strive 
to  conform  their  outward  actions  to  the 
new  and  distinctively  Christian  ideals. 


CHAPTER  II 

The  Christian   Man :  Presupposi- 
tions of  Christian  Conduct. 

rHAT  man's  ideal  of  conduct  will 
depend  in  a  large  measure  on  his 
conception  of  his  origin,  nature 
and  destiny,  is  hardly  open  to  question. 
No  ethical  teacher  who  has  failed  to 
ground  his  system  on  firm  foundations 
in  these  matters  has  succeeded  in  fur- 
thering the  cause  of  ethical  culture  and 
development.  Jesus  is  not  an  exception 
to  the  rule.  There  is  a  difference,  how- 
ever, between  Jesus  and  other  ethical 
teachers,  and  it  lies  in  the  fact  that 
whereas  they  build  theories  of  psychology 
14 


The  Christian  Man  15 

as  a  substructure  for  their  ethics.  He 
goes  deeper  and  grounds  His  teaching  on 
the  religious  nature  of  man.  He  relates 
the  moral  nature  directly  with  God. 

Synthetic  View  of  Man 

It  is  one  of  the  most  obvious  features 
of  Jesus'  view  of  man  that  it  is  synthetic 
and  not  analytic.  Man  is  not  to  Him  a 
complex  being,  consisting  of  body,  soul 
and  spirit ;  intellect,  sensibility  and  will ; 
cognitive  and  motive  powers  ;  affections, 
desires  and  conscience ;  but  a  unitary 
organism.  The  distinctions  carried  in 
these  terms  are  not  necessarily  wrong  or 
misleading  :  neither  does  Jesus  ignore 
them  altogether.  The  distinction  be- 
tween body  and  soul  is  indeed  so  far 
from  being  ignored  in  His  teaching  that 
it  is  quite  clearly  brought  into  the  fore- 
ground, when  He  urges  His  disciples 
not  to  "be  afraid  of  them  that  kill  the 
body,  but  are  not  able  to  kill  the  soul" 
(Matt.  X.  28  ;  Luke  xii.  4).     But  it  is  not 


1 6  Christian  Conduct 

wrought  out  into  a  psychological  theory. 
It  is  simply  made  the  ground  of  a  practi- 
cal appeal  in  behalf  of  conduct  worthy 
of  the  child  of  God.  Similarly,  with 
the  so-called  **  faculties  of  the  mind," 
while  the  varied  activities  designated  by 
them  are  assumed  to  exist,  they  are  no- 
where enumerated,  classified,  defined  or 
distinguished  from  one  another  with  a 
view  to  scientific  precision. 

Neither  does  Jesus  take  any  special  in- 
terest in  the  question  of  the  origin  of  the 
soul.  There  were  those  in  His  day  who 
like  the  Essenes  and  the  followers  of 
Philo  held  that  every  human  soul  had  a 
prenatal  existence  in  a  most  subtle, 
ethereal  form,  that  it  was  dragged  down 
and  entangled  in  the  body,  as  in  a  prison 
cell,  and  held  there  until  the  time  of  its 
liberation.*  The  more  prevalent  view, 
basing  itself  on  the  Old  Testament,  pre- 
sented each  soul  as  a  special  creation  of 

*Jos.  de  Bell.Jud.  II,  viii,  ii ;  Philo,  Mund.  Op.,  22  [1,15]  ; 
46  [I,  32]. 


The  Christian  Man  17 

God.     But  Jesus  takes  no  notice  of  these 
discussions. 

Conduct  Grounded  in  Religion 

It  is  otherwise  with  the  deeper  lying 
rock  of  the  religious  nature.  On  this 
Jesus  builds  His  ethics.  About  it  there- 
fore He  has  something  definite  to  say. 
Whatever  the  origin  or  the  inner  consti- 
tution of  the  soul,  or  its  relation  to  the 
body  may  be,  man  as  man,  either  stands 
or  is  capable  of  standing  in  the  relation 
of  a  child  to  God.  Without  entering 
into  the  question  whether  all  human  be- 
ings are  the  children  of  God  by  creation, 
or  may  become  so  by  faith  in  Jesus 
Christ  (a  question  which  the  more  it  is 
studied,  the  more  it  appears  to  possess  a 
merely  verbal  importance),  we  may  as- 
sert that  the  whole  course  of  a  human 
being  in  this  life  and  in  the  life  to  come 
is  determined  by  his  willingness  to  live  in 
the  relation  of  a  child  to  God. 


1 8  Christian  Conduct 

Immortality 

But  if  a  child  of  God,  man  has  the 
pledge  of  immortality.  Immortality  is 
not  to  be  mistaken  for  eternal  life.  That 
expression  is  used  in  the  Fourth  Gospel 
as  the  broad  equivalent  of  all  the  bless- 
ings brought  to  man  by  Jesus  Christ 
through  His  revelation  of  God  the 
Father.  Immortality  is  simply  the  death- 
lessness  of  personality.  Eternal  life  is 
the  life  lived  even  before  bodily  death  by 
him  who  has  come  to  the  true  knowl- 
edge of  God  through  Jesus  Christ  (John 
xvii.  4).  Immortality  is  associated  with 
the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  It  is  only 
as  He  is  approached  with  the  question  of 
the  Sadducees  regarding  the  resurrection 
that  Jesus  teaches  immortality.  They 
thought  they  would  perplex  Him  with 
the  implications  of  a  second  life.  He 
answered  :  The  second  life  is  not  only 
not  difficult  to  account  for  when  one  di- 
vests the  idea   of  it   of   merely   earthly 


The  Christian  Man  19 

elements,  but  it  is  a  fact  apart  from  the 
reembodiment  of  the  departed  soul. 
Abraham,  Isaac  and  Jacob  are  now  liv- 
ing ;  for  God,  who  said  that  He  was 
their  God,  could  not  have  done  so  unless 
they  were  immortal.  "  God  is  not  the 
God  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living " 
(Matt.  xxii.  32).  When  God  pledges 
Himself  to  such  a  relation  of  intimacy  to 
mankind,  the  pledge  means  that  He  has 
made  men  different  from  the  brute  cre- 
ation and  endowed  them  with  deathless- 
ness. 

There  is  nothing  inconsistent  in  this 
with  the  Apostle's  dictum  that  **the 
King  of  kings  and  Lord  of  lords  .  .  . 
only  hath  immortality  "  (I  Tim.  vi.  15). 
For  it  is  the  immortality  that  is  conveyed 
by  the  Creator  to  the  creature,  not  the 
immortality  of  the  absolute  and  uncon- 
ditioned being  that  is  asserted  of  man.  In 
one  sense,  there  is  no  immortality  out- 
side of  God  ;  for  only  God  is  in  Himself 
deathless,  but  those  whom  God  chooses 


20  Christian  Conduct 

to  make  deathless  are  certainly  such. 
Without  putting  it  into  an  academic 
formula,  Jesus  thus  plainly  declares  the 
doctrine  of  human  immortality. 

Inestimable  Value  of  Man 

And  if  man  is  immortal,  he  is  of  ines- 
timable value.  He  may  not,  must  not 
think  too  meanly  of  himself.  Nay,  he 
will  find  it  hard  to  think  of  himself 
highly  enough.  The  temptation  which 
assails  inost  human  beings  is  to  think  too 
highly  of  themselves  in  comparison  with 
others  and  too  unworthily  in  comparison 
with  the  ideal  for  them  designed  by  the 
Creator.  It  was  because  they  thoroughly 
yielded  to  this  temptation  that  the  Phar- 
isees of  Jesus'  day  on  the  one  hand 
looked  upon  the  publicans  and  sinners 
as  so  far  inferior  to  themselves  that  they 
gave  up  all  hope  of  rescuing  them  from 
their  evil  manner  of  life,  and  on  the 
other  hand  thought  so  unworthily  of 
themselves  that  they  were  satisfied  with 


The  Christian  Man  21 

hollow  externalism  and  fell  easily  into 
the  snares  of  hypocrisy  and  pride.  They 
were  indeed  in  their  own  judgment  on  a 
different  and  a  vastly  higher  level  than 
the  reprobates  whom  they  called  sinners 
{Am  Haaretz),  but  they  did  not  value 
themselves  highly  enough  to  aim  at  the 
best  within  their  reach. 

Jesus'  view  of  the  dignity  of  human 
nature  was  revolutionary.  It  found  a 
priceless  jewel  in  what  was  looked  upon 
as  a  useless  rubbish  heap.  It  called  men 
in  the  lowest  depths  of  degradation  to 
rise  to  sublime  heights  and  gave  them 
the  promise  of  help  if  they  would  only 
try  to  soar.  It  made  it  worth  while  for 
every  one  without  exception  to  make 
the  effort  to  live  a  better  life. 

But  Jesus  did  not  ignore  sin  or  mini- 
mize the  greatness  and  difficulty  of  the 
task  of  regeneration.  Nor  did  He  lower 
ideals  of  the  divine  law  and  underestimate 
the  seriousness  of  transgressing  it.  Sin 
as  sin  is  vastly  more  abhorrent  to  Him 


22  Christian  Conduct 

than  it  is  to  the  Pharisee  who  gathers  his 
skirts  about  him  lest  by  touching  the 
sinner  he  should  become  contaminated. 
Jesus  came  to  save  that  which  was  lost. 
He  was  so  thoroughly  possessed  by  the 
infinite  moment  of  the  difference  be- 
tween the  lost  and  the  saved  that  He  was 
willing  **  to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for 
many"  (Matt.  xx.  25;  Mark  x.  45). 
The  havoc  wrought  by  sin  even  in  the 
physical  man,  the  tears  and  groans  and 
soul-anguish  it  caused  in  this  life,  always 
stirred  Him  to  sympathy  for  its  victims, 
to  hatred  for  the  evil  itself  and  to  saving 
deeds  of  supernatural  power.  Sinners 
were  lost — lost  to  God,  lost  to  themselves, 
lost  to  their  fellow-creatures,  and  He 
would  do  all  that  it  was  possible  to  save 
them. 

Jesus  and  Utilitarianism 

Thus  Jesus  tied  conduct  to  a  faith  in 
God,  and  in  man's  nature  and  destiny  as 
related  to  God.    He  infused  into  it  the  life 


The  Christian  Man  23 

of  motives  drawn  from  the  eternal  sphere. 
It  is  needless  to  say  that  His  standpoint  is 
the  very  opposite  of  utilitarianism.  It 
has  indeed  often  been  presented  as  essen- 
tially utilitarian.  But  the  presentation  is 
nothing  more  than  a  caricature.  '*  Do 
right  that  you  may  receive  a  reward  in 
heaven,"  is  reported  to  be  the  sum  and 
substance  of  its  philosophic  basis.  But 
while  Jesus  does  hold  eternal  rewards 
and  penalties  in  prospect,  He  does  so  not 
in  order  to  induce  men  to  do  right  and 
eschew  evil,  but  in  order  to  help  them 
bear  the  hardships  which  a  utilitarian 
world  will  impose  upon  them  when  they 
attempt  to  follow  the  path  of  duty.  It 
is  only  to  counteract  the  manifest  paralyz- 
ing effects  of  persecution  and  suffering, 
and  steel  His  followers  to  endurance  that 
He  points  to  what  lies  beyond  (Matt.  x. 
28,  ff.  ;  xix.  29  ;  John  xvi.  33).  So  far 
from  inculcating  a  utilitarian  ethics,  Jesus 
is  constantly  warning  His  disciples  that 
He   has   nothing   to  promise  them  and 


24  Christian   Conduct 

nothing  to  give  them  for  their  pains  but 
the  hatred  of  the  world  and  the  burden 
of  the  cross. 

Jesus  and  Intuitional  Ethics 

On  the  other  hand,  Jesus  does  not  call 
on  men  to  do  right  just  because  it  is 
right.  Philosophically,  that  may  be  a 
tenable  position.  At  any  rate,  it  is  a 
fairly  debatable  thesis.  It  is  quite  true, 
in  a  certain  sense,  that  right  must  be 
loved  and  done  for  its  own  sake.  But 
Jesus  lifts  the  curtain  from  behind  that 
flat  and  perspectiveless  proposition,  and 
reveals  a  world  of  personalities  with  which 
moral  conduct  is  inextricably  associated. 
**  Do  right  because  you  love  God  and 
God  loves  you,  and  you  are  eternally  re- 
lated to  Him  in  the  closest  of  all  relation- 
ships," is  His  answer  to  the  basal  ques- 
tion of  ethics. 

Without,  therefore,  discrediting  theo- 
retical ethics  as  a  science,  but  rather 
making  it  all  the  more  necessary  and  in- 


The  Christian  Man  25 

teresting  by  the  enthusiasm  which  He 
creates  in  the  whole  subject,  Jesus  de- 
votes Himself  primarily  and  almost  ex- 
clusively to  the  practical  side  of  morality. 
He  has  no  word  to  say  as  to  whether 
conscience  is  a  single  and  separate  faculty 
or  a  complex  of  tendencies  and  powers 
in  man.  The  question.  Did  man  receive 
his  moral  nature  by  a  direct  ab  extra  en- 
dowment, or  by  a  subconscious  evolu- 
tion and  gradual  development,  does  not 
emerge  in  the  part  of  the  field  which  He 
has  chosen  to  occupy.  These  and  all 
other  kindred  matters  are  left  to  the  in- 
tellect of  man  as  legitimate  regions  for 
exploration  and  investigation,  just  as  the 
mechanism  of  the  heavens  or  the  knowl- 
edge and  uses  of  the  great  nature  powers 
are.  It  is  a  privilege  given  to  men  to 
investigate,  discuss  and  use  what  they 
can  find  in  these  spheres.  As  for  Jesus, 
He  is  bent  upon  the  more  vital  task  of 
begetting  living  children  of  God.  To 
this  end  He  quickens  the  consciousness 


26  Christian  Conduct 

of  kinship  with  God,  and  with  it  the  im- 
pulses towards  a  complete  and  completely 
holy  life.  **  Ye  therefore  shall  be  per- 
fect, as  your  heavenly  Father  is  perfect  " 
(Matt.  V.  48). 

Jesus  the  Ideal 

One  more  aspect  of  Jesus'  general  at- 
titude towards  conduct  must  be  men- 
tioned, that  He  enforces  by  living  ex- 
ample what  He  imparts  in  oral  teaching. 
Here,  too.  He  differs  from  all  other 
teachers.  Some  in  His  own  day  He  had 
reason  to  reproach  as  *'  loading  men  with 
burdens  grievous  to  be  borne,"  and  them- 
selves not  touching  the  burdens  **  with 
one  of  their  fingers  "  (Luke  xi.  46).  In 
all  ages  there  have  existed  imitators  and 
predecessors  of  these,  men  who  could 
easily  and  fluently  discourse  on  the  beauty 
of  virtues  which  they  did  not  even  try  to 
practice.  At  the  most,  they  could  only 
make  attempts  to  live  up  to  their  ideals 
and  confess  when  they  had  done  their 


The  Christian  Man  27 

best  that  they  had  come  short  of  actual- 
izing them  in  their  Hves  {video  meliora  de- 
teriora  sequor).  Jesus,  on  the  contrary, 
taught  nothing  which  He  did  not  illus- 
trate with  His  perfect  example.  Indeed, 
because  His  teaching  is  expressed  in 
human  language,  and  human  language 
is  interpreted  by  those  who  hear  or 
read  it  according  to  the  best  there  is  in 
them,  the  mere  oral  teaching  of  Jesus 
would  have  conveyed  a  much  less  ade- 
quate idea  of  what  He  designed  His  fol- 
lowers to  be,  had  not  He  Himself  placed 
the  highest  interpretation  upon  that 
teaching  by  His  own  life.  The  example 
of  Jesus  may  thus  be  said  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  disciples  to  transcend  His 
teaching.  As  one  who  knew  Him 
closely  through  all  the  days  of  His  min- 
istry declared  **  He  did  no  sin,  neither 
was  guile  found  in  His  mouth ;  who, 
when  He  was  reviled,  reviled  not  again  ; 
when  He  suffered,  He  threatened  not " 
(I  Pet.  ii.  22,  23). 


28  Christian  Conduct 

It  was  impossible,  speaking  even  from 
the  merest  human  point  of  view,  and 
without  regard  to  the  presence  of  the 
Holy  Spirit,  that  teaching  framed  with 
such  unerring  insight  into  the  nature  of 
the  subject,  adapted  so  marvellously  to 
the  needs  of  men,  and  carried  with  such 
a  living  force  of  example,  should  totally 
fail.  Coming  into  the  hearts  of  men 
full  of  frailty,  and  working  against  mighty 
forces  of  evil  deeply  rooted,  it  has  never 
indeed  been  fully  realized  in  the  life  of 
any  single  man  besides  the  one  who  gave 
it  to  the  world.  But  as  an  ideal  it  has 
commanded  unbounded  admiration,  chal- 
lenged comparison  with  the  best  the 
world  has  had  to  offer,  and  drawn  count- 
less multitudes  out  of  degradation  and 
misery  into  nobility  and  godlikeness. 


CHAPTER  III 

The  Antecedents  of  Chris fs  Teach- 
ing on  Conduct. 

JESUS  spoke  to  men  who  were  al- 
ready measurably  equipped  with 
ethical  conceptions.  He  did  not 
assume  that  the  minds  of  His  disciples 
were  blank  tablets  on  which  anything 
might  be  written.  He  spoke  with  due 
regard  to  the  effect  which  His  own  teach- 
ing might  have  on  these  preconceptions, 
and  to  the  reciprocal  effect  of  the  pre- 
conceptions on  His  teaching.  He  found 
them  familiar  with  a  definite  law  of  life, 
which  was  upon  the  whole  sound  and 
helpful.     No  law  of  life  adopted  by  a 

29 


30  Christian  Co7iduct 

large  section  of  humanity  is  ever  totally 
devoid  of  a  sound  kernel  at  its  core,  no 
matter  how  much  error  and  unwhole- 
someness  may  have  grown  about  it.  But 
the  law  governing  the  people  with  whom 
Jesus  had  direct  dealings  was  no  mere 
human  law,  adopted  or  developed  as  a 
consequence  of  ordinary  experience.  It 
was  given  from  above,  and,  though  de- 
signed for  crude  ages,  it  contained  prin- 
ciples of  eternal  validity.  And  it  was 
ever  the  way  of  Jesus  to  lay  hold  of  that 
which  was  sound,  and  work  it  out  into 
its  fullness.  He  **  did  not  come  to  de- 
stroy, but  to  fulfill." 

Moreover,  in  doing  so,  He  adapted 
His  work,  as  already  said,  to  the  condi- 
tions and  circumstances.  He  did  not 
scatter  seed  irrespective  of  the  prospects 
of  growth.  He  taught  the  uselessness  of 
casting  pearls  before  swine.  The  law  of 
adaptation  was  always  before  Him.  He 
did  not  believe  in  putting  new  wine  into 
old  wine  skins.     Contrary  as  it  might  ap- 


Chris fs  Teaching  on  Conduct  31 

pear  to  expectation.  He  held  that  even 
moral  regulations  must  be  suited  to  the 
capacities  of  those  who  are  to  receive  and 
live  by  them.  **  The  hardness  of  their 
hearts  "  did  lead  to  the  adaptation  of  the 
law  of  marriage  to  the  men  of  the  Old 
Testament,  and  to  the  permission  of 
divorce  upon  conditions  where  the  ideal 
could  not  be  appreciated  and  enforced. 
And  if  there  was  that  which  was  relative 
and  changeable  in  the  old  conditions, 
there  was  the  possibility  of  advance  upon 
it.  It  was  at  least  rudimentary  and  could 
be  developed.  **  Ye  have  heard  that  it 
was  said,"  He  declared  with  reference  to 
the  old  ;  and  then  set  over  His  own  more 
perfect  thought  in  the  formula,  **  But  I 
say  unto  you." 

The  Old  Testament  Law  of  Conduct 

What  then  was  the  Old  Testament 
law  of  conduct,  which  Jesus  used  as  a 
starting-point  ?  It  was  a  law  in  which 
God  was   recognized    as    supreme,   and 


32  Christian  Conduct 

conformity  to  His  expressed  will  as  the 
norm  for  the  faithful  Israelite.  God's 
will  moreover  had  been  definitely  re- 
vealed in  a  series  of  explicit  command- 
ments, the  Ten  Words  of  the  Decalogue. 
But  the  Decalogue  bears  on  its  very  face 
the  marks  of  a  preparatory  stage.  It  is 
the  code  of  a  society  in  its  infancy.  It 
prescribes  the  duty  of  the  individual,  but 
it  does  so  in  the  negative  form  of  pro- 
hibition. It  hedges  the  path  on  every 
side  with  a  **Thou  shalt  not."  It  is  in- 
deed based  upon  a  comprehensive  and 
unified  view  of  the  sphere  of  duty ;  but 
this  unity  is  conventional ;  it  is  imposed 
by  the  framer  of  the  commandment ;  it 
does  not  inhere  in  the  subject  itself.  The 
subdivision  and  arrangement  of  the  law 
in  the  Ten  Commandments  are  only  such 
as  to  help  in  the  grasping  and  holding  of 
their  content  by  a  people  in  the  earlier 
stages  of  civilization.  It  is  this  feature 
of  it  that  makes  the  Decalogue  so  per- 
manently valuable  in  the  instruction  of 


Chrisfs  Teaching  on  Conduct  2)Z 

the  young,  and  will  continue  to  give  it 
vitality  as  a  pedagogical  instrument  as 
long  as  there  shall  be  undeveloped  minds 
in  the  w^orld.  But  it  is  significant  at  the 
same  time  of  its  elementary  character. 
And  so  it  is  to  the  Decalogue  that  Jesus 
goes  to  illustrate  the  contrast  between  the 
old  and  the  new  morality,  for  here  He 
finds  the  germ  of  the  true  which  also, 
however,  is  in  need  of  development. 
Apart  from  this  development  it  is  quite 
inadequate. 

Two  characteristics  distinguish  the  con- 
duct prescribed  for  the  Old  Testament 
saint.  First,  he  was  never  to  forget  that 
he  was  an  Israelite.  In  his  conscious- 
ness, there  should  always  be  vivid  the 
thought  of  the  special  favor  he  was  en- 
joying as  a  member  of  God's  chosen 
people.  First  as  a  member  of  a  tribe, 
then  as  of  a  nation,  the  descendent  of 
Abraham  must  live  worthily  of  his  privi- 
leges. But  in  the  days  of  Jesus,  the  time 
had  become   ripe  for  the  passing  from 


34  Christian  Conduct 

this  nationalism  to  the  consciousness  of 
the  unity  of  the  human  race.  It  is  not 
meant,  of  course,  that  the  average  Jew 
realized  this  change,  but  that  the  history 
immediately  preceding  had  brought  the 
world  to  the  point  where  a  conduct  could 
be  held  up  as  ideal  in  which  the  con- 
sciousness of  merely  national  relation- 
ships should  fade  into  comparative  indif- 
ference. 

Secondly,  the  Israelite  viewed  every 
detail  of  conduct  as  consisting  of  two 
sides,  a  Godward  and  heavenward,  and  a 
manward  and  earthward  side.  And  the 
Godward  was  symbolized  in  a  ceremo- 
nial religious  act.  It  was  not  simply  that 
the  religious  ceremonial  stood  as  a  con- 
stant expression  of  the  religious  nature, 
but  that  each  part  of  a  human  life's 
whole  make-up  had  its  particular  cere- 
monial. Birth  and  death,  work  and  rest, 
morning  and  evening,  peace  and  strife, 
the  home  and  the  market,  were  associ- 
ated with  special    ceremonial    symbols. 


Christ's  Teaching  on  Conduct  35 

If  a  man  committed  a  trespass  against 
his  neighbor,  it  was  not  enough  that  he 
should  make  restitution.  The  act  of 
restitution  must  be  accompanied  by  a 
special  sacrifice  to  Jehovah. 

Both  of  these  features  were  done  away 
with  by  Jesus.  The  consciousness  of 
nationalism  disappeared  as  He  practiced 
His  kindnesses  to  non-Israelites,  such  as 
the  Syro-Phcenician  woman,  the  Roman 
centurion,  and  the  Samaritans  with  whom 
He  came  in  touch  during  the  course  of 
His  ministry.  The  ritual  element  was 
put  away  even  more  summarily  because 
it  had  come  to  be  a  source  of  many  seri- 
ous abuses.  The  ceremonial  accompani- 
ment originally  intended  to  indicate 
God's  presence  and  share  in  every  rela- 
tion of  life  was  practically  emptied  of  its 
holiness,  and  in  its  jejune  form  it  usurped 
the  place  of  the  moral  principles  of  life. 
Hence  Jesus  sent  men  to  the  prophets 
to  learn  *'  what  that  means,  I  will  have 
mercy  and  not  sacrifice." 


36  Christian  Conduct 

So  far  then  as  the  Old  Testament  is 
concerned,  Jesus  recognizes  it  as  the 
preparation  and  basis  for  His  own  teach- 
ing. He  finds  in  it  some  special  provi- 
sions meant  to  be  effectual  for  a  time  and 
meet  passing  conditions.  With  the  dis- 
appearance of  these  conditions,  those 
provisions  were  to  lapse.  He  finds, 
however,  also,  some  principles  which 
could  not  pass  away  because  they  are 
valid  for  all  time.  The  primitive  and 
ideal  was  unchangeable,  the  prescriptive 
was  temporary.  "  From  the  beginning 
it  was  not  so." 

Though  it  may  be  true  in  one  sense 
that  the  ethics  of  Jesus  are  a  develop- 
ment of  the  Old  Testament  ethics,  in 
another  sense  this  is  not  the  case. 
Neither  the  Old  Testament  nor  the  en- 
vironment can  account  for  Jesus.  He  is 
"  a  divine  miracle  in  that  age  and  envi- 
ronment" (Wellhausen).  His  relation 
to  His  age  is  that  of  the  transcendent  per- 
sonality, who,  emerging  in  it  stands  above 


Chrisfs  Teaching  on  Conduct  37 

it.     He  is  in  it  to  mould  it,  not  to  be 
affected  by  it. 

Pagan  Ethical  Teaching 

Does  Jesus  owe  anything  to  pagan 
teachers  for  His  ideas  on  conduct  ?  If 
the  question  has  reference  to  a  direct  in- 
debtedness based  upon  a  first-hand  con- 
tact with  the  great  masters  of  heathen 
thought,  it  can  only  be  answered  in  the 
negative.  If  it  refer  to  the  filtering 
in  of  Greek,  Hindoo,  or  even  Persian 
and  Babylonian  elements  into  Jewish 
thought,  it  is  a  question  of  the  indebt- 
edness of  Judaism  to  paganism,  not  one 
of  a  relation  of  Jesus  to  heathen  teachers. 
Jesus  stands  towards  the  pagan  elements 
of  thought  as  He  does  towards  those 
originally  developed  within  Judaism. 
They  are  the  conditions  He  recognizes 
and  with  reference  to  which  He  frames 
the  form  of  His  teaching.  So  far  as  they 
are  true  and  sound,  they  are  the  germs 
which  He  fosters  and  develops.     They 


38  Christian  Conduct 

are  the  materials  which  He  organizes 
and  vitalizes  into  a  living  entity.  They 
are  never  the  things  v^^hich  He  borrov^^s 
and  retails  even  though  in  a  modified 
form  as  the  Stoics  did  the  thoughts  of 
Socrates  and  Plato. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  there  were  some 
rich  and  valuable  ethical  teachings  gath- 
ered together  in  ancient  heathendom. 
Not  to  speak  of  the  mechanical  maxims 
of  Confucius,  and  the  more  dynamic 
ethical  precepts  of  Buddha,  as  being  too 
far  removed  from  Palestine  to  enter  into 
vital  connection  with  anything  that  Jesus 
may  have  taught,  there  were  in  Greece 
and  Alexandria  moral  conceptions  current 
which  exerted  a  strong  influence  through- 
out the  Judaic  world.  Virtue,  temper- 
ance, wisdom  and  justice  had  been 
preached  by  Plato  himself  as  the  four 
sides  of  a  perfect  character.  The  Stoics 
seizing  on  one  of  these,  that  of  temper- 
ance, or  self-control,  had  wrought  out  a 
perfect  ideal   of  a  life  of  calmness  and 


Chrisfs  Teaching  on  Conduct  39 

strength.  The  Epicureans  in  their  turn, 
by  turning  the  Platonic  wisdom  into  the 
practical  sphere  had  set  the  goal  of  hap- 
piness as  the  test  and  end  of  all  conduct.* 
With  these  ideals  and  systems  of  the 
Greeks,  the  teaching  of  Jesus  was  des- 
tined to  come  into  contact  by  and  by. 
But  in  its  origin  it  was  entirely  indepen- 
dent of  them.  Its  historical  connection 
leads  back  rather  into  Hebrew  prophecy. 
If  we  use  this  term  to  cover  broadly  the 
ethical  content  of  the  Old  Testament,  we 
shall  find  that  conduct  is  defined  here 
either  as  a  matter  of  requirement  by  God 
Himself,  as  in  the  Decalogue,  and  by  the 
prophets  in  the  stricter  sense,  or  as  a 
matter  of  the  highest  prudence,  as  in  the 
Book  of  Proverbs,  or  in  the  Wisdom 
Literature  in  general. 

Righteousness 

The  watchword  of  Hebrew  prophecy 
was    righteousness.      Those    who    were 

*  Cf.  W.  D.  Hyde.  "  From  Epicurus  to  Christ,"  chs.  i,  and  2. 


40  Christian  Conduct 

called  to  preach  it  were  also  given  the 
vision  of  its  eternal  bearings.  They  saw 
it  grounded  in  the  nature  of  God  and 
they  watched  its  issues  in  a  judgment  of 
the  ages.  If  Israel  prospered,  it  was  to 
be  by  righteousness.  If  the  heathen  were 
to  be  brought  to  nought,  it  was  because 
of  their  lack  of  conformity  to  it.  If  they 
turned  to  Jehovah,  and  took  His  law  as 
their  guide,  they  should  be  saved  by 
righteousness.  This  is  the  ethical  key  to 
the  puzzling  Book  of  Jonah,  as  well  as 
the  underlying  thought  of  many  an  ob- 
scure passage  in  the  rest  of  the  Old  Testa- 
ment. 

This  law  is  individualized.  The  right- 
eous one  shall  be  saved  by  his  faithfulness 
(Hab.  ii.  4).  All  the  scathing  denunciations 
of  Amos  and  Isaiah,  all  the  complaints  of 
Ezra  and  Jeremiah,  all  the  urgent  appeals 
of  Hosea  and  Haggai  and  Zechariah  are 
occasioned  by  the  lapse  from,  or  the  fail- 
ure to  realize,  this  law  of  God  in  private  as 
well  as  in  civic  Hfe.     Old  Testament  the- 


Chris fs  Teaching  on  Conduct  41 

ology  with  its  doctrines  of  the  unity  and 
holiness  of  God,  the  election  of  a  people 
to  be  holy,  the  expression  of  that  holiness 
in  a  ceremonial  system,  the  Messiah,  the 
Remnant,  the  Great  Day  of  Jehovah,  is 
nothing  but  a  series  of  deductions  from 
the  central  thought  of  righteousness  in 
God  and  man. 

Jesus  takes  up  the  lesson  just  where 
the  prophets  left  it.  He  takes  it  up  where 
they  found  the  conditions  and  their  own 
limitations  incapacitating  them  from  con- 
tinuing it.  He  clears  the  ground,  prunes 
off  foreign  accretions,  and  infuses  a  new 
life  into  the  plant.  It  is  true  His  own 
message  and  work  are  more  than  ethical ; 
but  they  are  ethical  before  they  are  any- 
thing more.  The  Kingdom  of  God  was 
the  realization  of  long  cherished  ideals  of 
a  perfect  order  in  which  men  would  deal 
with  one  another  as  God  would  have 
them  do,  /.  e.,  righteously.  Jesus'  law 
of  conduct  is  then  a  continuation,  purifica- 
tion and  expansion  of  the  law  of  perfect 


42  Christian  Conduct 

righteousness  given  to  Abraham,  to 
Moses  and  the  prophets.  What  was 
dimly  seen  as  a  flickering  light  by  the 
earlier  of  God's  messengers  was  shown 
by  Him  in  its  full  and  constant  blaze.  In 
this,  as  in  all  other  parts,  of  Revelation, 
'*  God,  having  of  old  time  spoken  unto 
the  fathers  in  the  prophets  by  divers  por- 
tions and  in  divers  manners,  hath  at  the 
end  of  these  days  spoken  unto  us  in  His 
Son  "     (Heb.  i.  1). 


CHAPTER   IV 

The  Mainspring  of  Christian 
Conduct. 

/T  was  said  above  that  the  key  word  of 
Old  Testament  morality  is  Right- 
eousness. Righteousness  as  conduct, 
however,  may  spring  from  a  perception 
of  results.  The  fact  that  it  produces 
happiness  for  its  votary  or  that  it  issues 
in  perfection,  harmony  and  beauty  of 
character,  or  that  it  secures  recognition 
and  standing  among  men,  or  that  its  op- 
posite is  the  source  of  frightful  ravages, 
or  that  there  are  penalties  attached  to  the 
doing  of  unrighteousness,  may  lead  to 
its    practice.     Righteousness     may    also 

43 


44  Christian  Conduct 

spring  from  a  knowledge  and  genuine 
and  spontaneous  love  of  Him  who  is  the 
source  of  it.  The  Old  Testament  had 
given  the  commandments  which  should 
yield  righteousness,  but  had  not  exhibited 
the  inner  unity  and  harmony  of  these 
commandments  in  any  one  of  these  roots. 
One  of  the  points  at  which  Jesus  tran- 
scends the  Old  Testament  conception  is 
just  this  idea  of  morality  as  a  unity,  con- 
trolled by  one  living  and  moulding  prin- 
ciple. 

The  Great  Commandment 

When  the  Pharisees  incited  one  of 
their  own  number,  a  lawyer,  to  test 
His  knowledge  of  the  Old  Testament 
Law,  with  the  question,  **  Which  is  the 
great  commandment  in  the  law?"  He 
promptly  answered  :  **  Thou  shalt  love 
the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy  heart,  and 
with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind. 
This  is  the  great  and  first  commandment. 
And  a  second  like  unto  it  is  this,  Thou 


Its  Mainspring  45 

shalt  love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself.  On 
these  two  commandments  the  whole  law 
hangeth  and  the  prophets"  (Matt.  xxii. 
35-39). 

These  two  commandments  were  quo- 
ted from  the  Old  Testament  law,  but 
they  were  taken  from  different  parts  of 
it.  Under  the  Old  Testament,  their 
connection  was  not  apparent.  Each  in 
its  place  was  recognized  as  proper  and 
effective.  It  did  not  seem  necessary  to 
join  them  together  under  one  principle. 
Neither  was  their  universal  sweep  clearly 
seen.  **  Thou  shalt  love  Jehovah  thy 
God"  meant  the  God  of  thy  nation,  the 
God  who  saved  thee  *'  out  of  the  land  of 
Egypt,  out  of  the  house  of  bondage." 
That  the  same  Jehovah  should  be  the 
object  of  love  for  all  men  of  every  land 
and  every  age,  the  Old  Testament  saint 
did  not  realize.  *'  Thou  shalt  love  thy 
neighbor  as  thyself,"  meant,  Thou  shalt 
have  regard  for  and  do  good  unto  the 
Israelite  with  whom  thou  art  in  daily  re- 


4-6  Christian  Conduct 

lation.  In  the  days  when  national  life 
broke  up  merely  local  lines  of  relation- 
ship, and  men  came  into  frequent  touch 
with  strangers,  and  these  presently  estab- 
lished themselves  in  the  places  of  neigh- 
bors, the  question,  "'Who  is  my  neigh- 
bor ? "  could  not  fail  to  rise  and  puzzle 
the  conscience.  In  the  parallel  but 
slightly  varying  account  of  Luke  (x.  25), 
this  question  actually  follows,  with  its 
magnificent  answer  in  the  parable  of  the 
True  Neighbor,  commonly  called  the 
Good  Samaritan. 

That  answer  means  simply  that  the 
love  at  the  root  of  conduct  must  be  uni- 
versal. All  artificial  distinctions  must 
melt  before  it.  The  Jews  were  not 
quite  ready  to  have  their  national  prerog- 
atives annulled  by  such  universalism. 
More  than  this,  within  the  nation,  a 
special  class  had  been  formed  with  the 
claim  to  special  privileges  before  God 
and  men.  And  they  based  this  claim  on 
their  very  relation  to  the  Law.     By  de- 


Its  Mainspring  47 

fining  the  Law  as  He  did,  Jesus  put 
Himself  into  the  position  of  implacable 
hostility  to  the  Pharisaic  standpoint. 

Defectiveness  of  Pharisaic  Righteousness 

He  declared  the  Pharisaic  ideal  to  be 
totally  inadequate.  Quite  deliberately 
and  dispassionately,  He  said  to  His  fol- 
owers :  "  For  I  say  unto  you,  that  ex- 
cept your  righteousness  shall  exceed  the 
righteousness  of  the  scribes  and  Phari- 
sees, ye  shall  in  no  wise  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  heaven  (Matt.  v.  20). 

/.    It  Exalts  Human  Authority  above  Di- 
vine 

More  particularly,  Jesus  criticised  the 
Pharisaic  idea  of  morality  first  of  all  for 
subordinating  the  divine  to  human  au- 
thority. *'  Ye  leave  the  commandment 
of  God,  and  hold  fast  the  tradition  of 
men."  And  of  this  He  gave  a  familiar  il- 
lustration.    The  fifth  commandment  of 


48  Christian  Conduct 

the  Decalogue  had  enjoined  in  exphcit 
terms  the  rendering  of  honor  to  father  and 
mother,  but  the  Pharisees  taught  other- 
wise. **  If  a  man  shall  say  to  his  father 
or  his  mother,  that  wherewith  thou 
mightest  have  been  profited  by  me  is 
Corban,  that  is  to  say,  Given  to  God,  Ye 
no  longer  suffer  him  to  do  aught  for  his 
father  or  his  mother ;  making  void  the 
word  of  God  by  your  tradition  "  (Mark 
vii.  8-13).  Here  was  a  case  of  the  mani- 
fest reversal  of  the  intent  of  the  law. 
The  law  was  of  divine  authority.  The 
tradition  which  annuls  it  was  of  human 
origin  ;  and  yet  when  it  came  to  a  choice 
between  the  two,  the  preference  was 
given  to  the  human  rather  than  the  di- 
vine. Such  tampering  with  conscience 
as  this  involved  would  only  result  in  the 
deadening  of  the  moral  nature. 

//.  Prefers  External  to  Internal  Elements 

Another  point  at  which  Jesus  found 
the  current  ideal  defective  was  its  prefer- 


Its  Mainspring  49 

ence  for  the  external  rather  than  the  in- 
ternal. The  moral  law  is  a  mere  abstrac- 
tion if  it  do  not  issue  in  outward 
application.  And  in  the  application  of 
it  outwardly,  questions  must  necessarily 
arise.  A  strong,  healthy  nature  will 
answer  these  questions  for  itself  ;  but  the 
weak  have  always  clamored  for  prescrip- 
tions, defining  the  law  in  detail,  and 
making  it  unnecessary  for  them  to  grapple 
with  these  questions.  It  was  this  that 
led  to  the  formation  of  the  so-called 
Hedge  of  the  Law.  The  Hedge  was 
nothing  but  a  series  of  precepts  covering 
every  imaginable  combination  of  circum- 
stances that  may  arise.  It  aimed  to  ex- 
ternalize the  spirit  of  the  law,  and 
render  its  observance  or  violation  easy  of 
discernment. 

In  a  certain  way,  the  Hedge  accom- 
plished its  purpose.  The  multitude  of  its 
prescriptions  could  be  easily  grasped ; 
they  were  outward  rules.  As  a  matter 
of  inner  right,  for  instance,  the  law  pro- 

D 


50  Christian  Conduct 

vided  for  the  payment  of  tithes,  but  it 
was  not  easy  to  decide  what  sort  of  prod- 
ucts should  be  tithed.  So  many  of 
them  appeared  to  be  too  insignificant  or 
too  much  aside  from  the  main  channels 
of  life  for  the  law  to  take  notice  of  them. 
The  Rabbis  undertook  to  say  just  what 
the  law  meant  to  cover  in  this  respect. 
Garden  herbs,  such  as  mint,  anise  and 
cummin  must  be  tithed.  The  difficulty 
was  removed.  The  plain  man  could  now 
observe  the  law  as  to  tithes,  without  puz- 
zling his  mind.  But  the  process  by 
which  the  difficulty  was  removed  raised 
an  external  and  subordinate  matter  to  the 
level  of  the  internal  and  primary  matters 
of  "  judgment  and  the  love  of  God."  No 
sooner  raised  to  this  level,  however,  the 
external,  from  the  nature  of  the  case, 
overshadowed  and  eclipsed  the  internal. 
The  weightier  matters  were  completely 
lost  sight  of.  Men  were  so  busy  about 
making  **  clean  the  outside  of  the  cup 
and  platter  "  that  they  could  not  perceive 


Its  Mainspring  51 

that  their  **  inward  parts  were  being  filled 
with  ravening  and  wickedness." 

///.  Deprives  Morality  of  Motive 

Akin  to  the  criticism  for  laying  undue 
emphasis  on  the  outward,  is  that  for  de- 
priving the  moral  of  its  true  significance 
by  ignoring  the  motive  and  fixing  upon 
the  performance  of  action  as  the  alone 
sufficient  thing  ;  or,  worse  still,  upon  its 
performance  from  selfish  and  unworthy 
motives.  In  either  case,  morality  ceases 
to  exist.  If  good  is  done  perfunctorily, 
it  has  no  ethical  character  and  value  ;  it 
has  settled  to  the  level  of  mechanical 
action.  If  it  is  done  from  other  than 
the  motive  furnished  by  conscience,  it  is 
not  the  offspring  of  the  moral  nature, 
but  of  the  intellectual.  It  becomes  a 
matter  of  calculation  and  self-interest. 
The  state  of  things  which  Jesus  found 
partook  of  both  of  these  evils.  Men 
obeyed  the  law  either  perfunctorily  (the 
common  people),  or  from  love  of  osten- 


52  Christian  Conduct 

tation  (the  more  zealous  Pharisees).  In 
both  cases,  they  deserved  rebuke  and 
correction. 

IV.  Multiplies  Precepts 

Still  another  fault  of  the  moral  system 
of  the  Pharisees  was  its  breaking  into  a 
vast  multitude  of  disconnected  precepts. 
Behind  this  feature,  there  was  doubt- 
less the  laudable  desire  to  be  exhaustive. 
Every  portion  of  the  law  must  be  care- 
fully guarded  with  rules,  making  it  im- 
possible for  the  loyal  Israelite  to  trans- 
gress it.  But  the  result  was  a  burden- 
some code  with  an  enormous  number 
of  specifications,  impossible  to  grasp 
and  hold  in  the  mind.  It  is  to  this 
that  Jesus  refers  when  He  speaks  of  the 
Pharisees  as  binding  "  heavy  burdens  and 
grievous  to  be  borne  and  laying  them 
on  men's  shoulders"  (Matt,  xxiii.  4). 
Evidently,  the  only  remedy  for  this  state 
of  things  was  to  sum  up  the  whole  moral 
system  in  one  great  principle  ;  and  Jesus 


Its  Mainspring  53 

does  this  in  the  Law  of  Love  with  its  two 
phases,  the  Godward  and  the  manward. 

The  Righteousness  of  the  Kingdom 

Over  against  the  righteousness  which 
is  inadequate,  Jesus  places  the  righteous- 
ness of  God  (Matt.  vi.  33).  It  is  the 
great  and  ultimate  aim  of  the  disciple  to 
approve  himself  a  worthy  child  of  the 
Father  who  is  in  heaven.  To  this  end, 
he  must  begin  by  knowing  God  aright. 
For  only  in  the  character  of  God  will  he 
find  a  normal  expression  of  the  law  of 
right  conduct  for  himself.  His  righteous- 
ness must  be  the  same  in  its  principle  and 
pattern  as  the  righteousness  of  God. 
The  phrase  itself,  **  righteousness  of 
God,"  is  liable  to  be  misunderstood,  be- 
cause it  is  used  by  the  Apostle  Paul  in  a 
slightly  different  sense.  It  is  not,  how- 
ever, on  that  account  to  be  assumed  as 
not  used  by  Jesus  at  all.  It  certainly  ex- 
presses His  genuine  thought  and  sets  it 
over  against  the  teaching  of  the  rabbis  of 


54  Christian  Conduct 

His  day.  They  conceived  of  God  as  a 
lawgiver,  and  of  man's  relation  to  Him  as 
essentially  a  legal  one.  Obedience  out 
of  proper  regard  for  or  without  proper 
regard  to  the  personal  element  in  the 
case  was  the  essence  of  righteousness. 
Jesus'  conception  of  God  as  Father  in- 
volved the  retirement  of  law  into  the 
background  because  of  the  more  potent 
and  effective  consciousness  of  the  filial 
relation.  Therefore  this  view  yields 
better  fruit.  It  achieves  all  that  respect 
for  law  aims  at  and  much  more.  Moral- 
ity is  to  do  the  will  of  God  and  God  is 
the  Father. 

But  if  the  consciousness  of  filial  relation 
lies  at  the  root  of  the  moral  life,  the 
moving  and  shaping  force  of  it  can  be 
nothing  less  than  the  principle  of  love, 
and  so  we  return  to  Jesus'  enunciation  of 
the  Great  Commandment  (Matt.  xxii. 
35-39).  The  mainspring  of  all  conduct 
must  be  love. 

Love  is  not  a  virtue  among  other  vir- 


Its  Mainspring  55 

tues,  but  the  spirit  and  life  of  all  the  vir- 
tues. In  a  certain  aspect  of  it,  love  is 
broader  than  righteousness.  Yet  practi- 
cally the  two  conceptions  are  coextensive. 
Even  if  it  be  not  true  to  say,  love  is  right- 
eousness, it  is  correct  to  say,  righteousness 
is  the  expression  of  love.  It  would  be 
quite  possible,  and  in  fact  an  easy  task, 
were  it  not  entirely  superfluous,  to  show 
by  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  teach- 
ings of  Jesus  that  every  one  of  them  rec- 
ognizes the  centering  of  all  good  around 
the  vital  point  of  love.  Pure  abstract 
good  may  exist  in  reality,  but  Jesus  leaves 
it  out  of  account  in  His  ideal  of  conduct. 

Inwardness   of  Morality  :    Spontaneity  of 
Conduct 

The  qualities  of  morality  which  Jesus 
inculcates  are,  therefore,  lofty  ideality  in 
combination  with  regard  for  common, 
practical  ends.  First,  and  above  all  else, 
this  morality  is  a  spontaneous  outgrowth. 
Commonly,  this  feature  of  it  is  called  in- 


56  Christian  Conduct 

wardness.  So  far  as  the  term  refers  to 
the  fact  that  Jesus  finds  the  seat  of  merit 
and  demerit  not  in  the  outward  action 
but  in  the  inner  thought  or  feeUng  from 
which  the  action  springs,  it  is  truly  de- 
scriptive. Moreover,  it  distinguishes  the 
ideal  of  Jesus  from  the  Pharisaic  ideal, 
which,  as  already  shown,  lays  undue  stress 
on  mere  outward  observances.  But  if  in- 
wardness is  to  be  understood  as  pointing 
back  to  a  hidden  source  within  man,  a 
mysterious  something  beneath  the  surface 
that  cannot  be  probed,  it  were  better  to 
set  the  term  aside  and  use  the  word  spon- 
taneity instead. 

It  must  be  clearly  understood,  how- 
ever, that  spontaneity  is  not  causelessness, 
but  rather  naturalness  and  freedom  from 
constraint  from  without.  Moral  conduct 
is  from  this  aspect  of  it  not  mechanical 
obedience  to  an  external  law,  but  the  glad 
expression  of  a  willing  spirit.  Compliance 
to  the  will  of  God  makes  up  the  essence 
of  spontaneous  loving  righteousness. 


Its  Mainspring  57 

Freedom 

Spontaneity,  moreover,  means  not 
merely  inwardness  or  freedom  from  ex- 
ternal restraint,  but  also  positive  ability  to 
determine  one's  own  moral  course.  Jesus 
would  have  His  disciples  decide  the  ques- 
tions of  conscience  for  themselves,  without 
asking  for  authoritative  pronouncements 
by  rabbis,  whether  living  or  ancient.  Help 
from  external  sources  is  not  only  permis- 
sible, but  may  be  in  given  circumstances 
even  necessary.  But  the  gulf  between 
help  and  authority  must  be  always  held 
as  impassable.  Where  love  does  its  per- 
fect work,  it  may  contribute  to  others 
the  light  necessary  for  the  better  under- 
standing of  ways  and  means,  and  the  bet- 
ter expression  of  self,  but  it  will  not  be  at  a' 
loss  as  to  whether  it  shall  give  vent  or  not. 
It  is  only  fear  that  seeks  for  human  au- 
thority to  prescribe  to  it  its  narrow  path. 

When  this  principle  is  fully  understood, 
no  difficulty  will  be  felt  with  reference 


58  Christian  Conduct 

to  the  independent  attitude  which  Jesus 
assumed  and  imparted  to  His  disciples  in 
all  matters  pertaining  to  the  outward 
practices  of  fasting  and  prayer,  of  cere- 
monial purifications  and  abstinences,  and 
of  the  observance  of  Sabbatic  times  and 
seasons.  These  practices  are,  to  be  sure, 
more  ceremonial  than  moral ;  and  yet 
the  principle  involved  in  them  is  equally 
applicable  to  the  moral  sphere.  It  means 
that  Jesus  aims  at  the  development  of  a 
self-directed  power  in  His  follower. 

Breadth 

With  freedom,  the  moral  ideal  of  Je- 
sus introduces  the  element  of  breadth. 
Righteousness  is  not  merely  the  keeping 
of  one's  self  free  from  blame  for  doing 
some  things,  but  also  for  leaving  undone 
certain  others.  Where  any  other  motive 
than  that  of  love  rules,  neglect  and  omis- 
sions will  be  natural  and  frequent.  To 
scrupulous  but  loveless  Pharisees,  who 
punctiliously  observed  the  requirements 


Its  Mainspring  59 

of  an  external  law,  but  overlooked  the 
subtler  and  spiritual  obligations  of  life, 
Jesus  said,  *'  These  ought  ye  to  have  done 
and  not  to  leave  the  other  undone."  His 
ethical  ideal  was  comprehensive  of  all  of 
man's  conduct.  The  litde  and  insignifi- 
cant things  like  the  tithing  of  anise,  mint 
and  cummin,  as  well  as  the  great  and 
momentous  things  of  righteousness  and 
the  love  of  God  must  be  included,  and 
will  be,  where  the  disciple  is  moved  by 
the  true  motive  and  takes  God's  desire  as 
his  rule.  There  is  no  sphere  or  depart- 
ment of  human  life  into  which  the  subtle 
element  of  love  may  not  penetrate  and 
infuse  its  power.  Hence  the  outward 
and  inner  man,  the  acts  of  ritual  or  spirit- 
ual nature,  of  Godward  or  manward  di- 
rection can  and  must  all  be  pervaded  and 
governed  by  it  if  the  ethical  ideal  of  Jesus 
shall  be  realized.  All  relations,  whether 
to  the  world  of  nature,  to  men  or  to  God, 
must  be  sanctified  and  vitalized  by  its  uni- 
versal and  pervasive  sway. 


CHAPTER  V 

The  Comprehensive  Rule  of  Conduct : 
The  Golden  Rule. 

C«#  HERE  is  another  statement  of 
J_  duty  besides  the  Great  Command- 
ment to  which  Jesus  attaches  the 
expression  **This  is  the  law  and  the 
prophets."  It  is  the  Golden  Rule.* 
We  pass  by  all  critical  discussions  such  as 
Ewald's  contention  that  this  verse  is  mis- 
placed and  should  have  occurred  after 
V.  44.  The  difference  between  the  two 
summaries  of  the  law  and  the  prophets 
is  the  difference  between  the  principle 
and   the   rule.     The   one    presents    the 

*Matt.  vii.  12. 
60 


The  Golden  Rule  6i 

essence  and  life,  the  other  the  form  of 
the  same  thing. 

Originality  of  the  Golden  Rule 

As  pertaining  to  the  form  and  body 
rather  than  to  the  spirit  and  life  of  the 
moral  law,  the  Golden  Rule  must  take  a 
secondary  place.  It  does  not  give  the 
thought  of  Jesus  at  its  highest  and  best. 
It  was  customary  to  claim  upon  this 
point  that  in  the  gift  of  the  Golden  Rule 
to  His  disciples  and  to  the  world,  Jesus 
had  made  the  most  valuable  contribu- 
tion to  the  moral  progress  of  the  human 
race.  As  against  this  position,  -it  was 
claimed  on  the  other  side  that  the  same 
truth  had  been  taught  long  before  the 
days  of  Jesus  by  others.*  As  a  matter  of 
fact  more  than  one  parallel  to  the  Gold- 
en Rule  has  been  pointed  out  in  heathen 
literature,  t 

*Gibbon,  Decline  and  Fall,  ch.  54,    n. 

tConfucius  taught,  "  Do  not  to  others  what  you  do  not  wish 
done  to  yourself"  (Legge,  Chinese  Classics,  i  igzi)  Isocrates 
advises,"  What  ye  resent  when  suffering  at  the  hands  of  others, 


62  Christian  Conduct 

To  meet  the  implications  of  these  paral- 
lels, the  counterclaim  has  been  set  up  that 
whereas  in  them  the  law  is  stated  in  a  neg- 
ative form,  it  was  put  by  Jesus  on  its  ag- 
gressive and  positive  side.  If  Confucius 
said  :  *'  Do  not  do  to  others  what  you 
would  not  wish  done  to  yourself,"  it  was 
because  of  his  rudimentary  conception  of 
a  principle  which  Jesus  grasps  and  gives 
in  its  fullness  and  maturity.  This  is  per- 
fectly true.  There  is  a  marked  difference 
between  the  parallels.  But  should  it  af- 
fect our  ideas  of  the  originality  of  Jesus 
if  we  were  to  discover  that  the  law  had 
been  enunciated  even  in  its  positive  form  ? 
We  cannot  think  so.  The  originality  of 
Jesus  does  not  consist  in  teaching  pre- 

do  not  do  to  others  "( N'icocl,  12).  The  Stoic  maxim  was  "  Quod 
tibi  fieri,  non  vis  alteri  non  f  eceris."  A  familiar  story  has  it 
that  an  inquirer  demanded  of  Shammai  to  be  taught  the  Law 
while  he  stood  on  one  foot.  Shammai  sent  him  away  with 
indignation.  He  went  to  Hillel  and  made  the  same  request. 
"With  keener  insight,  this  teacher  promptly  replied :  "  What- 
soever thou  wouldest  that  men  should  not  do  to  thee,  that  do 
not  thou  to  them.  All  our  Law  is  summed  up  in  this  saying. 
All  the  rest  is  only  comment  upon  it."  ' 


The  Golden  Rule  63 

Gept-s  never  heard  by  men  previously,  but 
in  revealing  the  true  nature  of  God.  His 
life  in  the  world,  His  claim  to  be  obeyed 
perfectly,  and  His  gracious  purpose  to- 
wards those  who  having  failed  to  do  their 
best  might  still  come  to  Him  for  forgive- 
ness and  strength  for  a  new  endeavor. 
Originality  does  not  consist  in  bringing 
into  existence  new  materials  of  thought, 
but  in  infusing  a  new  life  into  those  al- 
ready at  hand.  And  Christ  the  revela- 
tion of  God  does  transform  all  the  golden 
rules  ever  taught  by  others  into  a  new 
law. 

Distinctiveness  of  Jesus'  Form  of  It 

Nevertheless,  the  Golden  Rule,  as 
given  by  Jesus,  is  a  far  more  vital  and 
vitalizing  guide  to  conduct  than  its  pre- 
decessors. Lurking  in  its  background, 
there  lies  the  thought  of  a  motive  power. 
If  it  makes  no  mention  of  the  law  of 
love,  it  assumes  it  as  at  the  root  of  the 
conduct  it  prescribes.     Had  Jesus  never 


64  Christian   Conduct 

spoken  a  single  word  regarding  the 
springs  of  all  action  in  love,  this  reading 
of  the  motive  in  the  background  might 
have  been  called  unwarranted ;  but  in 
view  of  the  fact  that  He  called  the  law 
of  love  the  sum  and  substance  of  the  an- 
cient law  and  the  prophets,  and  further, 
in  view  of  the  fact  that  He  lived  and 
died  in  conformity  to  a  richer  and  larger 
conception  than  the  measure  of  doing  to 
others  as  He  would  have  had  others  do 
to  Himself,  it  is  perfectly  legitimate  to 
read  the  Golden  Rule  as  His  conception 
of  what  conduct  should  be  in  the  con- 
crete, when  it  is  actuated  by  the  love  He 
shows  as  necessary  to  all  true  sonship  of 
God. 

The  Essential  Element  in  It 

The  pith  of  the  Golden  Rule  is  the 
principle  of  mutualism.  It  recognizes 
the  necessity  of  social  relations,  and  the 
equality  of  the  related  parts  in  the  social 
organism.     The  temptation  in  social  life 


The  Golden  Rule  65 

is  to  regard  self  as  the  center,  and  all  that 
ministers  to  self  as  proper  and  right.  For 
all  things  this  temptation  holds  out  one 
end  and  aim,  self.  All  other  things  or 
persons  are  mere  means.  The  gospel  of 
altruism,  at  least  in  some  of  its  forms, 
goes  to  the  opposite  extreme.  It  re- 
duces self  to  a  means  and  other  persons 
and  things  (as  in  Buddhism)  to  ends. 
The  Golden  Rule  is  the  golden  mean  be- 
tween natural  utilitarianism  and  Utopian 
altruism.  It  regards  all  personality  as  an 
end  in  itself.  Kant  gave  expression  to 
the  truth  embodied  in  it  when  he  said : 
**  So  act  as  to  treat  humanity,  whether  in 
your  own  person,  or  in  that  of  another, 
in  every  case  as  an  end,  and  never  as  a 
means  only." 

The  Golden  Rule  is,  therefore,  the 
necessary  solvent  of  all  social  complica- 
tions. Without  a  considerable  obser- 
vance of  it,  society  becomes  a  hard  thing 
to  move.  If  it  were  to  cease  being  re- 
garded altogether,  society  must  come  to 


66  Christian  Conduct 

a  standstill.  It  is  like  air  to  sound.  If 
the  air  becomes  thin,  as  in  the  upper 
strata  of  the  atmosphere,  sound  becomes 
faint ;  and  when  perfect  vacuum  is 
reached,  sound  is  impossible.  Its  neces- 
sity is  so  manifest,  that  one  does  not 
wonder  at  its  being  discovered  before 
Christ's  day. 

The  Golden  Rule  is  the  expression  of 
all  genuine  sympathy.  To  put  one's  self 
in  the  place  of  another,  is  to  feel  as  he 
does  and  to  feel  with  him  ;  and  to  feel 
with  him  is  to  rouse  in  one's  self  the  mo- 
tives which  will  treat  him  as  one  would 
treat  one's  self,  or  would  have  one's  self 
treated.  If  one  would  turn  a  sensitive 
ear  unto  his  own  heart,  he  would  hear 
there  the  pleadings  of  the  claims  of 
others. 

The  Golden  Rule  in  Operation 

But  sympathy  is  a  feeling.  Its  spon- 
taneous rise  may  be  encouraged  or  re- 
pressed.    In  any  case,   it  is  in  need  of 


The  Golden  Rule  67 

guidance  and  control ;  and  the  Golden 
Rule  is  intended  to  furnish  its  guide. 
First  of  all,  it  does  not  touch  those  cases 
in  which  the  good  of  others  or  their  ill 
are  not  dependent  upon  the  action  of  self. 
In  such  cases  sympathy  may  exist,  but  it 
can  only  result  at  most  in  a  bare  expres- 
sion in  word  or  deed.  Secondly,  where 
action  is  called  for,  more  than  the  mere 
expression  of  sympathy  is  demanded  by 
the  rule,  in  fact  nothing  less  than  the 
wisest  and  kindest  action.  The  mere 
impulse  moving  along  the  line  of  the 
least  resistance  would  often  dictate  that 
which  is  pleasing  to  the  other.  But  the 
rule  demands  what  is  most  profitable. 
Mere  sympathy  for  instance  would  lead 
to  the  bestowment  of  help  directly ;  a 
wise  regard  for  the  highest  welfare  of  the 
person  to  be  helped  would  suggest  the 
special  kind  of  help  which  would  render 
him  able  to  help  himself. 

One  would  not  wish  for  flattery  for 
himself  where  criticism  would  be  more 


68  Christian  Conduct 

beneficial ;  one  would  not  wish  a  gratuity 
where  the  opportunity  to  earn  by  work- 
ing would  be  of  much  greater  benefit  in 
the  long  run ;  one  would  not  wish  a 
meretricious  reputation  for  virtue  or  ca- 
pability where  the  unvarnished  statement 
of  facts  would  prove  of  more  lasting  value. 
Therefore,  in  practicing  the  Golden  Rule 
one  is  called  upon  not  to  regard  the  pass- 
ing comfort  of  pleasure,  but  the  perma- 
nent well-being  of  his  neighbor. 

But  suppose  the  neighbor  is  blind  and 
blunt  and  incapable  of  wishing  the  things 
that  one  sees  plainly  to  be  the  best  ? 
That  has  nothing  to  do  with  one's  action. 
It  is  not  what  the  other  would  desire, 
but  what  one  would  desire  with  the  bet- 
ter light  which  he  possesses  for  himself 
were  he  in  the  place  of  the  other  that 
one  must  promote.  Whatever  wisdom 
and  kindness  one  has  gathered  that  is  over 
and  above  the  others,  he  is  to  put  at  the 
service  of  the  other. 

The  distinction  between  want  and  wish 


The  Golden  Rule  69 

may  help  to  throw  light  on  the  subject. 
It  is  not  what  the  other  wishes,  but  what 
he  wants  ;  it  is  not  what  one  wants  to  do, 
but  what  one  would  wish  to  have  done 
for  himself  in  the  same  circumstances 
that  is  prescribed  as  his  duty. 

But  is  this  not  the  same  as  the  law  of 
love  ?  Does  it  not  amount  to  loving  one's 
neighbor  as  one's  self?  It  is,  but  with  a 
difference.  And  the  difference  consists 
in  this,  that  the  law  of  love  underlies  the 
rule  of  conduct.  If  one  is  possessed  by 
the  law  of  neighborly  love  as  defined  by 
Christ,  he  will  practice  the  Golden  Rule. 
If  he  fails  to  practice  the  rule,  it  will  be 
because  his  love  is  defective.  If  he  prac- 
tice the  rule  without  the  underlying  and 
actuating  motive  of  love,  his  obedience 
will  not  be  Christian  ;  it  will  scarcely  rise 
to  the  level  of  the  ethical.  In  other 
words,  the  law  of  love  gives  us  a  principle, 
the  Golden  Rule  shows  the  practical 
working  of  that  principle. 

The  effect  of  the  observance  of  the 


70  Christian  Conduct 

Golden  Rule  cannot  but  lead  to  some- 
thing more  than  a  cold  moralism.  And 
this  is  the  difference  between  Christian 
and  non-Christian  ethics.  In  the  one, 
altruism  and  even  mutualism,  are  purely 
expediential,  in  the  other  all  conduct 
springs  from  an  inexhaustible  fountain- 
head.  In  the  one,  the  moment  it  ceases 
to  be  expedient  to  treat  others  right, 
right  conduct  loses  its  force  ;  in  the  other 
it  always  remains  valid.  Not  only  so, 
but  it  educates  toward  a  higher  and  a 
purer  character. 


CHAPTER  VI 

Self-Culture. 

rHE  great  principle  of  regard  for 
personality  as  an  end  in  itself  calls 
attention  not  only  to  those. with 
whom  one  finds  himself  in  social  relations, 
but  to  one's  self  also.  This  is  implicit  in 
the  Law  of  Love,  as  framed  and  expressed 
in  both  of  the  utterances  of  Jesus  just 
considered.  The  law  of  love  to  one's 
neighbor  sets  up  a  standard  of  measure- 
ment. *'  Thou  shalt  love  thy  neighbor 
as  thyself."  That  takes  for  granted,  of 
course,  that  one  love  one 's  self.  Neither 
the  Old  Testament  nor  any  other  system 

71 


72  Christian  Con  duct 

of  morals  knows  of  a  specific  command- 
ment, **  Thou  shalt  love  thyself." 

On  the  contrary,  paradoxically  enough, 
the  neglect  and  even  the  apparently  un- 
loving treatment  of  one's  self  have  often 
been  inculcated  as  moral  excellencies. 
The  reasons  for  this  are  not  far  to  seek. 
Human  nature  stands  in  no  need  of  the 
exhortation  to  self-regard.  It  is  rather 
sorely  in  need  of  restraints  and  limitations 
to  its  natural  tendencies  in  that  direction. 

The  Care  of  Self  Provided  for  in  Human 
Nature 

Through  a  wise  provision  in  the  human 
constitution,  the  care  of  self  is  abundantly 
secured  by  means  of  a  series  of  imperative 
instincts  and  appetites.  So  strong  are 
these  that  the  problem  of  the  welfare,  and 
even  of  the  existence,  both  of  the  indi- 
vidual and  of  society  depends  upon  their 
proper  regulation  and  control.  Less 
compelling  they  could  not  have  been 
made  without  the  risk  of  failing  to  ac- 


Self -Culture  73 

complish  their  end,  /.  e.,  self-preservation 
and  race-preservation.  More  lively  they 
could  not  have  been  made  without  de- 
feating their  own  end.  But  being  such 
as  they  are,  they  demand  not  a  general 
commandment,  *'  Thou  shalt  love  thy- 
self,"  but  a  series  of  ideals  which  will 
lead  to  their  use  without  abuse. 

The  need  for  such  restraining  ideals 
has  been  universally  recognized  and  will 
be,  in  spite  of  occasional  protests  against 
them,  like  that  of  Friedrich  Nietzche  in 
our  own  days.  To  what  extent  it  was 
Jesus'  thought  that  the  appetites  and  in- 
stincts should  be  restrained  is  to  be  ascer- 
tained from  a  careful  examination  of  all 
His  utterances.  It  would  be  quite  easy 
to  take  isolated  sayings  and  interpret 
them  *  in  the  Ught  of  certain  ideas  and 
practices  current  in  a  limited  and  local 
way  in  His  own  day,  and  thus  make  Jesus 
appear  an  advocate  of  asceticism.     This 

*  An  instance  can  be  pointed  out  in  the  case  of  Origen  and 
his  misinterpretation  of  Matt.  xix.  12. 


74  Christian  Conduct 

has  indeed  been  done  in  a  rather  thor- 
oughgoing way. 

Self-Realization,  a  Duty 

The  sum  and  essence  of  a  complete 
view  of  Jesus'  thought  regarding  one's 
duty  to  himself  is  that,  as  a  child  of  God, 
every  human  being  should  give  due  at- 
tention to  the  development  of  all  his 
powers  and  capacities,  physical,  intellec- 
tual and  spiritual,  in  accordance  with  the 
relative  importance  of  each  as  a  part  or 
aspect  of  the  whole  man. 

Self-Knowledge    the    First   Step    in    Self- 
Culture 

This  involves  first  of  all  the  duty  of 
self-knowledge.  Jesus  did  not  use  the 
language  of  the  ancient  schools  ;  but  His 
meaning  is  just  as  plain  on  this  point  as  if 
among  His  sayings  there  had  been  pre- 
served something  similar  to  the  Delphic 
**  Know  thyself,"  which  Socrates  was  so 
fond   of   repeating.     No   one  can  rise  to 


Self -Culture  75 

the  sphere  of  privilege  revealed  by  the 
Master  without  coming  to  appreciate  at 
the  same  time  something  of  his  own  pos- 
sibilities, and  of  the  estimate  which  God 
Himself  puts  upon  him.  What  has  been 
said  of  Jesus'  view  of  human  nature  as  a 
presupposition  of  His  ethical  teaching 
must  become  in  some  measure  or  form 
the  individual  Christian's  view  of  him- 
self. 

Self-Discovery 

Standing  upon  this  platform,  we  may 
say  that  Jesus  is  not  only  the  revealer  of 
God  to  man,  but  also  of  man  to  himself. 
Indeed,  He  could  not  be  the  one  without 
being  the  other  in  the  same  fact.  If  He 
was  to  reveal  God  the  Father,  He  must 
reveal  also  man  the  child.  The  revelation 
is  a  revelation  of  relation,  and  both  terms 
must  come  into  light  if  it  shall  be  com- 
plete and  effective  for  its  purposes.  In 
the  parable  of  the  Prodigal,  the  lost  son 
first  "  comes  to  himself."     He  finds  him- 


76  Christian  Conduct 

self,  /.  e.y  comes  to  realize  who  he  is, 
what  he  might  have  been,  and  what  he 
may  still  be.  The  step  of  self-discovery 
is  so  inherently  necessary  that  it  cannot 
be  regarded  as  forcing  the  parable  to  find 
it  pictured  in  this  feature  of  the  prodigal's 
imaged  experience. 

Self-Study 

But  it  is  more  than  a  self-discovery  that 
man  needs.  What  is  discovered  must  be 
appreciated.  The  duty  of  self-knowledge 
must  result  in  self-study.  Human  nature 
is  a  complex  and  ever-changing  subject. 
It  does  not  show  its  whole  content  at  the 
moment  of  discovery.  It  can  neither  be 
grasped  at  a  single  glance  in  one  act  of 
self-discovery,  nor  can  it  be  held  in  a 
steadfast  and  continuous  view,  like  an  im- 
movable picture  fixed  upon  canvas  once 
for  all.  The  depths  and  variations  of  the 
soul's  life  must  be  constantly  and  closely 
kept  under  scrutiny.  In  a  sense,  the  dic- 
tum  **  the  proper  study  of   mankind  is 


Self-Culture  77 

man "  expresses  a  genuine  thought  of 
Jesus. 

This  sort  of  self-study  will  be  at  once 
recognized  as  a  very  different  thing  from 
the  morbid  introspection  sometimes  prac- 
ticed and  commended  in  the  history  of 
Christianity.  It  is  not  a  self-examination 
which  looks  for  and  terminates  with  the 
finding  of  the  evil  in  the  heart,  and  thus 
fills  one  with  gloom  and  despair  ;  nor  is  it 
the  self-examination  that  pulls  up  each 
growing  good  impulse  by  the  roots  in 
order  to  ascertain  how  much  vitality  it  has 
gained.  It  is  rather  that  calm  and  sober 
appreciation  of  capacities  and  tendencies 
which  culminates  in  a  healthy  self-esteem 
in  general. 

The  child  of  the  honorable  parent,  no 
matter  how  severely  he  may  reproach 
himself  for  falling  into  low  habits  and 
keeping  company  with  unworthy  persons, 
must  have  with  the  returning  sense  of  his 
high  birth,  a  correct  appreciation  of  his 
dignity.     He  must  know  the  difference 


78  Christian  Conduct 

between  what  he  ought  to  be  and  what 
he  is.  And  to  know  this  difference  is  to 
honor  his  own  ideal  self,  and  to  attempt 
to  realize  it. 

"  Could'st  thou  in  vision  see 
The  man  that  God  hath  meant 
Thyself,  thou  would'st  not  be 
The  man  thou  art  content." 

Self-Mastery 

But  self-knowledge  is  not  complete 
until  it  has  passed  into  self-mastery.  It 
would,  in  fact,  be  a  source  of  unhappi- 
ness  if  it  were  nothing  more  than  the 
consciousness  of  powers  and  conditions 
within,  which  one  could  not  bend  and 
utilize,  whose  victim  and  slave  one  must 
therefore  remain.  Whatever  else  a  person 
may  not  be  able  to  control,  he  can  con- 
trol himself  ;  he  can  grasp  the  reins  of  his 
powers  and  tendencies  with  a  firm  hand 
and  direct  them  into  the  paths  of  his 
own  choice  ;  if  driven  to  the  last  re- 
sort, he  can  **  cut  off  and  cast  from  "  him- 


Self-Culture  79 

self  an  offending  part ;  he  can  cause  the 
polluting  stream  of  '*  evil  thoughts,  mur- 
ders, adulteries,  fornications,  thefts,  false 
witnesses,  railings  "  to  dry  up  within  his 
heart.  Of  the  virtue  which  modern 
Christendom  calls  temperance,  either  in 
its  narrower  sense,  as  abstinence  from  in- 
toxicants, or  in  its  older  and  broader  sense 
of  pure  self-control,  Jesus  does  not  dis- 
course extensively.  An  occasional  allu- 
sion to  drunkenness,  among  other  evils, 
shows  that  He  held  this  form  of  sin  as 
much  in  abhorrence  as  others.  But  His 
whole  view  of  conduct  is  based  on  a 
theory  of  self-mastery  which  must  inevi- 
tably lead  to  temperance  in  all  its  senses. 

A  Sense  of  Proportion  in  Estimating  Differ- 
ent Elements  in  Self 

Another  duty  growing  from  the  com- 
plexity of  human  nature  is  the  relative 
and  proportionate  estimating  of  its  differ- 
ent parts  and  powers.  They  are  not  all 
of  equal  importance.     There  is  that  in 


8o  Christian  Conduct 

man  which  is  worth  more  than  the  whole 
world,  at  least  to  himself  :  **  For  what 
shall  a  man  be  profited  if  he  shall  gain 
the  whole  world  and  forfeit  his  life  ?  Or 
what  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for  his 
Hfe  "  *(Matt.  xvi.  26).  And  there  is  that  in 
him  with  which  he  can  dispense  if  nec- 
essary (Matt.  V.  29).  His  aim  should  be 
undoubtedly  to  preserve  himself  com- 
plete. All  his  powers  are  talents  (the  use 
of  the  word  "talent"  as  the  equivalent 
of  power  or  "  faculty,"  though  of  late 
origin,  is  quite  true  to  the  thought  of 
Jesus)  which  he  must  use  and  develop. 
But  if  in  the  stress  of  the  conflict  he 
should  lose  or  find  it  necessary  to  suppress 
or  discard  one  in  order  that  the  rest  of 
his  manhood  may  be  preserved,  and  put 
to  the  best  use,  he  is  acting  both  faith- 
fully and  wisely.     Jesus'  appeal  is  always 

*  It  makes  little  difference  for  our  purposes  whether  the 
word  "  soul  "  is  retained  here  with  the  A.  V.,  or  the  more  cor- 
rect "  life  "  of  the  R.  V.  be  accepted.  The  main  point  is  that 
there  is  in  man  that  which  is  incomparable  in  value  to  any- 
thing else. 


Self-Culture  8i 

to  the  personality  as  a  whole  and  in  be- 
half of  the  personality  as  a  whole. 

The  sense  of  proportion  necessary  in 
the  distribution  of  self-regard  He  shows 
only  in  its  most  general  bearing.  Its 
special  applications  must  be  adjusted  in 
harmony  with  the  general  principle 
pointed  out.  The  bodily  Hfe  and  the 
inner  life  are  the  two  specially  contrasted. 
The  Kingdom  of  God,  whether  regarded 
as  the  sudden  appearance  upon  earth  in 
an  apocalyptic  fashion  of  the  divine  reign 
with  its  heavenly  hierarchy  of  officers,  or 
as  a  gradual  evolution  through  natural 
processes  and  stages,  of  a  moral  dispensa- 
tion, is  of  vastly  more  importance  than 
mere  earthly  welfare.  Its  bearings  are 
eternal ;  therefore,  it  is  the  first  thing  to 
be  sought.  All  other  things  will  be 
added  to  him  who  is  absorbed  in  seeking 
for  it. 

Care  for  Bodily  Needs 
And  care  of  the  body  may  be  relegated 


82  Christian  Conduct 

into  the  place  of  secondary  importance 
all  the  more  cheerfully  because  there  is 
abundant  provision  made  for  it  in  the  wise 
orderings  of  nature  itself,  which  is  noth- 
ing but  the  workmanship  of  the  heavenly 
Father.  "  Is  not  the  hfe  more  than  the 
food,  and  the  body  than  the  raiment?" 
(Matt.  vi.  25  f. )  It  is  hardly  necessary  to 
repeat  the  commonplace  remark  that 
there  is  no  intention  here  to  encourage 
idleness,  recklessness  or  fanaticism.  It  is 
not  labor  and  prudence  that  are  depre- 
cated. These  are  a  part  of  the  equip- 
ment of  the  world  ;  through  them  the 
heavenly  Father  supplies  the  needs  of 
His  creatures.  Even  "  the  fowls  of  the 
air  "  and  **  the  lilies  of  the  fields,"  though 
**  they  sow  not,  neither  do  they  reap,  nor 
gather  into  barns ;"  though  ''they  toil 
not,  neither  do  they  spin, "  yet  do  each  that 
which  is  appointed  as  the  proper  means 
for  attaining  to  the  end  held  in  view  for 
them  by  the  Father  which  is  in  heaven. 
None  of  them  would  be  fed  or  clothed 


Self-Culture  83 

with  glory  greater  than  Solomon's  if  some 
work  were  not  lavished  on  them  some- 
where by  creature  agencies.  It  was  not 
the  due  use  of  forethought,  but  the  un- 
due exaltation  of  the  secondary  to  the 
level  of  the  primary  concerns  of  life  that 
Jesus  designed  to  rebuke  through  His 
words  in  this  connection.  He  who  seeks 
first  the  Kingdom  of  God  will  find  it  easy 
to  gain  through  the  means  appointed 
thereto  the  other  necessary  things. 

But  what  a  meaning  is  added  by  mod- 
ern scientific  knowledge  to  these  words 
of  Jesus  about  the  part  of  God  in  the 
arrangements  and  provisions  of  the  uni- 
verse. Life  with  its  infinite  variety  and 
complication,  and  in  its  inextricably  intri- 
cate adjustments  is  seen  in  the  light  of 
physical  and  biological  research  to  require 
a  care  nothing  short  of  divine.  To  him 
who  has  the  confidence  that  it  is  his 
Father's  house,  the  world  will  be  fuller 
of  interest  and  each  of  its  provisions  the 
more  reassuring   because  of  that   confi- 


84  Christian  Conduct 

dence.  While  we  may  not  cease  to  care 
for  the  health  and  welfare  of  the  body, 
he  will  not  waste  his  precious  life  on 
worrying  about  these  matters. 

The  supreme  element,  however,  in 
self-regard,  is  the  culture  and  full  realiza- 
tion of  the  true  self,  the  heavenly  element 
in  man  which  allies  him  to  eternity. 
Jesus  has  much  to  say  of  this.  But  as 
this  self  rises  into  the  eternal  sphere,  the 
teaching  of  Jesus  about  it  also  passes  from 
the  ethical  to  the  spiritual,  from  the 
sphere  of  conduct  to  the  sphere  of  the 
inner  life.  There  it  may  be  left  to  be 
studied  more  appropriately. 


CHAPTER  VII 

The   Sabbath. 

TTTUKT'EYY.K  may  have  been  the 
f/^l^  understanding  of  the  ancient 
Hebrew  about  the  origin  and 
design  of  the  Sabbath,  it  cannot  be  reason- 
ably questioned  that  the  observance  of 
the  commandment  resulted  in  a  high 
type  of  self-culture.  The  fourth  com- 
mandment by  its  very  phraseology  aims 
at  two  good  things,  first,  rest  from  rou- 
tine and  drudgery,  and  second,  touch  with 
the  sphere  of  the  infinite  and  eternal. 
The  latter  of  these  brings  as  an  inevitable 
consequence  the  deepening  and  enlarg- 
ing of  the  idea  of  holiness.     As  the  idea 

85 


86  Christian  Conduct 

of  holiness  is  in  the  Old  Testament  the 
inseparable  correlate  of  divinity,  to  sanc- 
tify anything  is  to  consecrate  it  to  God, 
and  use  it  as  He  wills  ;  or  in  other  words, 
to  honor  Him  through  it.  To  hallow  a 
portion  of  time  can,  then,  only  mean  so 
to  use  it  as  to  do  honor  to  God  and  be- 
come partaker  in  His  holiness.  This 
part  of  the  Sabbath  law  thus  passes  into 
the  inner  life. 

The  other  side  of  the  good  aimed  at 
by  the  fourth  commandment  is  more  ex- 
ternal. It  is  secured  through  the  cessa- 
tion for  a  while  of  those  activities  that 
wear  and  tear,  and  the  opportunity  to  re- 
plenish and  repair  the  wasted  energies. 
So  patent  is  the  benefit  of  rest  that 
thoughtful  men  of  all  schools  and  types 
have  never  failed  to  admire  and  praise  the 
provision  for  it  found  in  this  elemental 
law  of  the  Old  Testament  moral  code. 

The  Sabbath  under  the  Old  Testament 
In  the  nature  of  the  case,  the  provi- 


The  Sabbath  87 

sions  made  in  the  Old  Testament  for  the 
securing  of  the  advantages  of  the  Sabbath 
laws  were  minute  and  prescriptive.  It 
could  not  have  been  otherwise.  The  de- 
gree of  progress  in  intellectual  and  moral 
ideas  was  not  compatible  with  anything 
less  than  a  system  of  detailed  directions 
intended  to  safeguard  the  institution  of 
the  Sabbath  and  guarantee  its  benevolent 
operation.  The  analogies  of  all  other 
spheres  of  life  called  for  these  statutory 
provisions.  But  for  these  the  law  must 
dissolve  into  a  vague  tradition  and  vanish 
away. 

Rabbinical  Sabbath-Legislation 

It  was  intended  undoubtedly  that  as 
intelligence  and  moral  vigor  were  devel- 
oped, a  freer  use  of  the  privileges  of  the 
law  of  rest  should  take  the  place  of  these 
detailed  prescriptions ;  that  individual 
judgment  should  be  trusted  to  adapt  this 
means  of  moral  and  spiritual  culture  to 
individual    needs.     But    the    course    of 


88  Christian  Conduct 

events  took  exactly  the  opposite  turn. 
Instead  of  a  freer,  there  prevailed  a  more 
burdensome  Sabbath  law.  Rabbinical 
ingenuity  found  here  a  favorite  ground 
for  its  inventiveness.  The  Talmud  con- 
tains a  whole  tractate,  twenty-four  chap- 
ters in  length,  entitled  ''  The  Sabbath,"  in 
which  these  prescriptions  are  elaborated 
into  wearisome  minutiae.  An  ass  might 
not  be  led  out  on  the  road  with  its  cover- 
ing on  unless  such  had  been  put  on  the 
animal  previous  to  the  Sabbath  ;  but  it 
was  lawful  to  lead  the  animal  about  in 
this  fashion  in  one's  own  courtyard.  The 
same  rule  applied  to  a  pack-saddle  pro- 
vided it  was  not  fastened  by  girth  or 
backstraps.* 

Instead  of  a  help,  the  Sabbath  law  was 
made  a  burden.  And  the  strange  thing 
about  it  is  that  the  burdensomeness  of 
these  regulations  was  felt  and  confessed 
even  by    the  rabbis   themselves.     Com- 

Cf.  Edersheim,  Life  and  Times  of  Jesus  the  Messiah,  vol.  ii, 
App.  xvii. 


The  Sabbath  89 

meriting  upon  the  above-mentioned  regu- 
lation, one  of  them  is  reported  as  burst- 
ing into  the  indignant  exclamation  that 
**  such  laws  were  like  mountains  sus- 
pended by  a  hair."  Jesus  in  a  series  of 
inevitable  controversies  (Matt.  xii.  11  ff.  ; 
Mark  ii.  26  ff.  ;  Luke  vi.  9  ;  xiii.  3,  14 ; 
John  viii.  22)  recalled  His  followers  from 
them  to  the  primitive  principle  and  design 
of  the  law.  The  pith  of  His  thought  is 
given  in  the  declaration :  *'  The  Sab- 
bath was  made  for  man,  and  not  man  for 
the  Sabbath,  so  that  the  Son  of  man  is 
Lord  even  of  the  Sabbath"  (Mark  ii.  27, 
28). 

Man  needs  the  Sabbath 

This  means  in  the  first  place  that  man 
needs  the  Sabbath.  It  is  not  an  arbitrary 
enactment  designed  to  torment  him  or 
to  test  his  obedience,  but  a  beneficent 
provision  to  help  him  to  the  fullest  real- 
ization of  what  is  best  in  himself.  There 
may  be  commandments  of  God  which 


90  Christian   Conduct 

must  be  simply  obeyed  with  the  implicit 
faith  which  asks  not  why,  and  takes  it 
for  granted  that  the  Heavenly  Father  has 
ordained  all  things  in  love.  But  the 
Sabbath  commandment  is  not  one  of 
these.  Its  reason  is  not  only  rooted  in 
the  needs  of  human  nature,  but  becomes 
apparent  without  a  very  long  and  labori- 
ous search. 

In  fact  the  Sabbath  law  is  exactly  on 
the  same  basis  as  the  other  nine  com- 
mandments of  the  Decalogue,  so  far  as  in- 
herent grounds  for  their  existence  are 
concerned.  The  only  difference  between 
it  and  them  is  that  they  are  readier  to 
show  the  good  they  are  meant  to  accom- 
plish, while  the  beneficence  of  the  Sab- 
bath law,  though  not  hard  to  discover, 
does  require  some  study  and  experience 
to  make  itself  felt.  In  the  last  analysis, 
however,  the  law  of  rest  can  no  more  be 
violated  with  impunity  than  the  laws  of 
respect  for  life,  property,  truth  and  chaste 
relations  between  the  sexes. 


The  Sabbath  91 

Sabbath  Observance  Adaptable  to 
Changing  Conditions 

Secondly,  if  the  Sabbath  law  is  rooted 
in  a  human  need  and  its  observance  re- 
sults in  good  to  man,  it  follows  that  the 
manner  of  its  observance  must  depend 
on  the  form  that  this  need  may  take  from 
time  to  time.  The  perfect  keeping  of 
the  Sabbath  law  is  a  matter  of  adaptation 
to  conditions.  Under  the  Old  Testa- 
ment, conditions  demanded  a  rather  ex- 
tensive code  of  statutory  provisions  with 
severe  penalties  attached  to  violation. 
Under  the  New,  the  conditions  are  more 
favorable  for  a  freer,  and,  to  employ  a 
philosophical  word,  a  more  teleological 
use  of  the  law. 

It  will  not  be  necessary  here  to  enter 
into  the  question  whether  Jesus  Himself 
commanded  the  change  of  the  day  from 
the  seventh  to  the  first  of  the  week.  It 
is  nearly  certain  that  He  did  not.  But  it 
is  sufficient  to  point  out  that  if  the  change 


92  Christian  Conduct 

ministers  to  the  need  which  the  Sabbath 
law  is  designed  to  meet  more  effectively 
than  the  preservation  of  the  original  day 
of  the  week,  then  it  is  more  than  justified. 
But  who  will  deny  that  for  the  disciple 
of  Jesus  Christ,  the  risen  Redeemer,  it 
must  necessarily  minister  more  abundantly 
by  putting  him  in  touch  with  the  great 
historical  fact  of  his  Saviour's  triumph 
over  the  last  great  enemy  ? 

Change  in   Method  of  Sabbath  Observance 
not  Unlimited 

Does  this  view  of  the  Sabbath  give 
men  too  much  freedom  with  a  divine  or- 
dinance ?  Does  it  seem  to  reduce  a  great 
and  fundamental  law  into  a  matter  of 
mere  convenience  ?  In  answer  it  may  be 
said  that  the  range  of  freedom  given  by 
Jesus,  though  absolute  from  one  point 
of  view,  is  practically  limited  and  ade- 
quately safeguarded.  If  the  Sabbath  was 
made  for  man  and  man  remains  essentially 
the  same,  the  manner  of  its  helping  him 


The  Sabbath  93 

cannot  change  very  much.  In  fact  the 
changes  in  the  means  that  minister  to  man 
at  any  part  of  his  being  cannot  be  very 
radical.  If  man's  body,  for  instance,  needs 
a  fixed  quantity  of  starchy  and  nitrogenous 
foods,  he  will  not  be  obeying  the  law  of 
his  being  if  he  depart  very  far  from  the 
habit  of  using  these  elements  of  nourish- 
ment. Neither  will  he  be  justified  if  he 
should  complain  that  his  freedom  is  not 
real  when  he  finds  that  he  cannot  extend 
the  variety  and  range  of  his  diet  so  as  to 
include  minerals  and  metals.  But  within 
the  range  prescribed  by  nature,  he  may 
move  with  a  considerable  freedom,  and 
command  the  elements  to  support  and 
strengthen  him.  The  principle  applies  to 
the  case  of  the  Sabbath  law.  Though  set 
free  from  prescription  and  allowed  to 
adapt  it  to  his  spiritual  as  well  as  physical 
and  intellectual  health  and  welfare,  man  is 
not  set  free  from  the  obligation  of  using 
the  Sabbath  for  his  edification  and  re- 
freshment in  accordance  with  the  dictates 


94  Christian  Conduct 

of  the  highest  wisdom,  as  reached  in  the 
experience  of  his  fellow  beings. 

The  Social  Element  in  Sabbath-Observance 

There  is,  moreover,  a  social  element  in 
the  observance  of  the  Sabbath  law  which 
cannot  very  well  be  neglected.  Though 
the  benefits  of  the  Sabbath  observance 
must  come  to  the  individual  as  he  observes 
it,  yet  the  observance  is  from  the  nature 
of  the  case  made  either  more  or  less  ef- 
fective as  a  means  towards  this  end  accord- 
ing as  men  undertake  it  in  harmony  with 
one  another,  or  at  cross  purposes.  It  is  as 
a  law  of  the  Kingdom  ;  and  the  King  (the 
Son  of  man)  is  Lord  even  of  the  Sabbath. 
But  if  it  be  affected  by  the  fact  that  men 
must  live  in  society,  a  certain  element  of 
conventionalism  necessarily  enters  into 
the  practical  working  of  it.  What  one 
might  have  a  right  to  do  or  not  to  do  if 
he  were  alone  in  the  world,  he  might 
find  it  not  only  inexpedient  but  even 
wrong  to  do  or  not  to  do  as  he  came  to 


The  Sabbath  95 

act  with  reference  to  those  with  whom 
he  is  cooperating. 

Restatement  of  the  Sabbath-Law 

A  very  helpful  way  of  stating  Jesus' 
thought  regarding  the  Sabbath  is  to  lay 
down  the  general  law  that  the  Christian 
should  rest  one  day  out  of  the  seven  in 
the  week  and  devote  it  to  the  cultivation 
of  his  spiritual  life,  that  he  should  do  no 
work  on  it  **  except  works  of  necessity 
and  mercy."  This  is  clear  and  easily  un- 
derstood. But  the  pith  and  essence  of 
the  matter  might  be  put  even  better,  /'.  e., 
more  comprehensively  and  scientifically 
in  the  formula  that  whatever  promotes 
the  spiritual  welfare  of  men,  whether 
through  ministering  to  the  imperative 
necessities  of  the  body  or  directly  to  the 
higher  nature  may  be  done.  *'  For  the 
Sabbath  was  made  for  man  and  not  man 
for  the  Sabbath." 

In  addition  to  the  undisputed  sayings 
of  Jesus  on  the  Sabbath,  the  Cambridge 


96  Christian  Conduct 

manuscript  of  the  Gospels*  contains  an 
insertion  after  Luke  vi.  4,  as  follows : 
**  On  the  same  day,  having  seen  one  work- 
ing on  the  Sabbath,  he  said  to  him,  O 
man,  if  indeed  thou  knowest  what  thou 
doest,  blessed  art  thou ;  but  if  thou 
knowest  not,  thou  art  accursed,  and  a 
transgressor  of  the  law."  Whether,  as 
Bishop  Westcott  says,  "  the  saying  must 
rest  on  some  real  incident"  or  not,  it  shows 
that  very  early  in  the  history  of  the  Chris- 
tian community,  the  full  meaning  of 
Jesus'  teaching  on  the  Sabbath  began  to 
be  realized. 

*  Known  as  Codex  D. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

The  Christian  in  Social  Relations. 

/N  the  Golden  Rule,  Christ  gave  a 
comprehensive  guide  to  conduct  as 
it  might  affect  others.  Men  would 
cease  to  be  human,  however,  if  they  did 
not  need  and  ask  for  explanations  and  il- 
lustrations of  a  general  law.  And  Jesus 
must  have  been  very  much  less  consider- 
ate of  the  weakness  of  His  disciples  than 
He  was  had  He  declined  or  neglected  to 
supply  them  with  these  illustrations  and 
explanations. 

The  Law  of  Love  Concretely  Illustrated 

The  Sermon  on  the  Mount  is  indeed 
G  97 


98  Christiait  Conduct 

nothing  more  nor  less  than  the  answer  of 
Jesus  to  these  impHcit  appeals  for  light 
upon  the  practical  operation  of  His  fun- 
damental principles.  It  begins  with  the 
Beatitudes  ;  and  the  Beatitudes  show  the 
law  of  love  analyzed  just  as  a  beam  of 
sunlight  is  analyzed  into  the  colors  of  the 
spectrum  when  passed  through  a  prism. 
But  the  Beatitudes  present  an  ideal  citizen 
of  the  Kingdom  of  God.  In  order  to 
attain  to  that  ideal,  the  disciple  may  have 
to  pass  through  many  a  perplexing  situa- 
tion. Jesus  does  not  hesitate  to  select 
some  typical  applications  of  His  principle 
in  such  puzzling  experiences. 

First  and  most  frequent  in  its  recur- 
rence is  the  question  of  the  treatment  of 
personal  offences,  whether  real  or  imagi- 
nary. They  are  the  most  common  of  the 
violations  of  love.  That  the  question  of 
offences  occurred  soon  after  Jesus  had 
announced  His  central  and  governing 
principle  of  love,  appears  from  the  fact 
that  Peter  directly  asks  :  "  How  oft  shall 


In  Social  Relations  99 

my  brother  sin  against  me  and  I  forgive 
him  ?  Until  seven  times  ?  "  (Matt,  xviii. 
21).  The  query  is  based  upon  a  measur- 
ably firm  grasp  of  the  thought  of  Jesus. 
But  it  shows  also  how  novel  that  thought 
must  have  appeared  to  Peter. 

The  Law  of  Retaliation 

But  the  question  shows  at  the  same  time, 
how  hard  it  is  for  those  who  first  heard 
the  commandment  of  love  to  fathom  its 
full  depth.  They  were  accustomed  to 
a  very  different  ideal  under  the  law  of 
retaliation.  It  must  be  remembered, 
however,  in  justice  to  the  ethics  of  the 
Old  Testament,  that  the  law  of  retaliation 
itself  was  given  not  as  a  means  of  en- 
couraging the  feeling  of  revenge,  but  as 
a  check  and  regulator.  When  one  re- 
ceives an  injury,  the  natural  propensity  is 
to  return  evil  for  evil,  not  according  to 
the  amount  or  kind  of  the  injury  suffered, 
but  without  limitation.  Anger  is  a  blind- 
ing passion  ;  it  will  not  calculate.     The 


100  Christian  Conduct 

moment  one  takes  time  to  estimate  the 
damage  done  him  and  plan  to  inflict  pro- 
portionate damage  upon  its  perpetrator, 
the  moment  one  stops  to  weigh  and 
measure  and  calculate,  that  moment  he 
furnishes  his  passions  an  opportunity  to 
evaporate.  The  lex  talionis  was  designed 
to  accomplish  this  very  end.  It  was 
friendly  to  justice  as  against  the  unjust 
and  unmeasured  infliction  of  vengeance 
so  natural  to  the  human  heart.  Hence, 
**an  eye  for  an  eye,  a  tooth  for  a  tooth," 
means.  Be  careful  you  do  not  go  beyond. 
Justice  you  may  have  a  right  to  demand  ; 
your  pound  of  flesh  you  may  require  and 
have  ;  but  not  the  smallest  fraction  of  an 
ounce  more  than  the  pound  shall  go  with 
it ;  not  a  drop  of  blood  are  you  entitled 
to  take. 

The  Old  Testament  law  of  retaliation 
is  a  vast  stride  forward  from  the  impulses 
of  nature.  When  men  are  unprepared 
for  the  higher  principles  of  Jesus,  it  is 
found  greatly  to  lessen  the  savageries  and 


In  Social  Relations         loi 

cruelties  to  which  blind  passion  might 
lead  men  to  give  vent.  It  is  in  the  in- 
terest not  only  of  strict  justice  but  also  of 
humanity  that  it  is  inserted  in  the  Old 
Testament  system. 

From  Retaliation  to  Unlimited  Forgiveness 

But  the  change  from  unrestrained  ven- 
geance to  retaliation  does  not  compare  in 
its  radical  character  and  effects  to  that 
from  retaliation  to  love.  No  wonder 
that  the  disciples  were  taken  aback  and 
wished  to  know  exactly  how  such  a 
method  of  dealing  with  offences  would 
work.  Jesus  in  answer  reiterates  the 
principle  of  love  with  more  amplitude 
and  emphasis  :  "  I  say  not  unto  thee  un- 
til seven  times  seven  ;  but  until  seventy 
times  seven."  **The  quality  of  mercy 
is  not  strained."  Strict  justice  may  mod- 
erate natural  inhumanity  and  make  an 
approach  toward  humanity,  but  the  es- 
sence of  godlike  humanity  goes  far  be- 
yond  strict  justice.     In  this   sense   it  is 


I02  Christian  Conduct 

the   only    perfectly    humanizing   princi- 
ple. 

Reconciliation  with  a  Supposed  Offended 
Brother 

The  first  concrete,  though  hypotheti- 
cal, case,  through  which  Jesus  illustrates 
His  principle  of  love,  is  that  of  a  sus- 
pected grievance  on  the  part  of  another. 
**  If  thou  rememberest  that  thy  brother 
hath  aught  against  thee  .  .  ."  It  may 
be  a  mere  suspicion,  it  may  be  a  matter 
of  common  rumor,  the  brother's  feeling 
may  be  unwarranted,  it  may  lack  suffi- 
cient grounds  for  existence,  still  if  he 
only  thinks  that  it  is  well  founded,  it 
breaks  the  force  of  loving  relations,  and 
must  not  be  allowed  to  stand.  And  the 
effort  to  remove  it  must  take  precedence 
of  everything  else.  Even  on  such  a 
sacred  occasion  as  religious  worship,  so 
jealously  to  be  guarded  against  intrusion, 
if  one  should  call  to  mind  the  existence 
of  a  possible  violation  of  love  in  his  rela- 


In  Social  Relations         103 

tions,  he  should  not  allow  the  solemnity 
of  the  religious  service  to  go  on,  but 
should  first  have  that  root  of  bitterness 
removed.  "  First,  be  reconciled  to  thy 
brother."  We  cannot  but  believe  that 
this  is  meant  only  as  an  illustration  of  a 
large  class  of  similar  cases. 

Non-Resistance  to  Evil 

The  next  case  that  may  be  properly 
taken  up  at  this  point  is  that  in  which  ill 
feeling  has  passed  from  the  stage  of  a 
lurking  suspicion  into  an  open  expression, 
where,  moreover,  the  place  of  its  appear- 
ance is  not  the  neighbor's  or  brother's 
heart,  but  one's  own.  This  is  the  reverse 
of  the  preceding.  It  is  not,  *'  if  thy 
brother  hath  aught  against  thee,"  but 
"  if  thou  hast  aught  against  thy  brother. " 
But  like  the  preceding  case,  hypotheti- 
cally,  it  is  :  **  When  thy  brother  has  of- 
fended thee  "  (Matt.  v.  39  ff.).  ''  Who- 
soever smiteth  thee  on  the  right  cheek, 
turn  to  him  the  other  also."     What  does 


I04  Christian  Conduct 

Jesus  mean  by  these  words  ?  They  seem 
to  enjoin  the  doctrine  coinmonly  called 
non-resistance  of  evil.  But  when  one 
considers  the  fact  that  Jesus  often  ex- 
pressed His  thoughts  in  a  vivid  and  rhe- 
torically exaggerated  way,  not  in  the  way 
of  the  pedant ;  and  when  one  still  fur- 
ther takes  into  account  the  fact  that  He 
did  not  Himself  practice  literally  what  He 
says  here  (John  xviii.  22,  23),  the  injunc- 
tion can  scarcely  be  taken  as  intended  in 
the  cold  pedantic  way  of  the  letter. 

And  after  all,  it  may  fairly  be  ques- 
tioned whether  the  policy  of  passive  non- 
resistance  which  has  been  deduced  from 
these  words  can  be  made  to  consist  with 
Jesus'  cardinal  principle  of  love.  Can  it 
be  the  truest  and  highest  forin  of  love  to 
encourage  a  second  act  of  injustice  by 
actually  turning  the  other  cheek  to  the 
hardened  hand  which  has  already  com- 
mitted one  act  of  brutality  ?  Can  it 
further  the  ends  of  love  to  enable  one 
who  has  dishonestly  taken  a  coat  to  add 


hi  Social  Relations         105 

to  his  dishonesty  a  confused  notion  of  a 
distinction  between  **  mine  "  and  **  thine  " 
by  giving  to  him  also  one's  cloak  ? 
Would  it  help  the  true  and  godlike  man- 
hood to  encourage  the  parasitic  borrower 
by  giving  him  what  he  asks  every  time  ? 
How  could  it  help  to  advance  brother- 
liness  to  yield  to  the  selfish  and  arbitrary 
demand  to  go  a  mile  by  going  with  him 
two  ? 

Nay,  as  against  these  absurd  extremes, 
one  may  very  well  say  that  it  is  possible 
to  do  exactly  the  opposite  of  what  the 
words  of  Jesus  apparently  convey,  and 
carry  out  the  real  intent  of  what  He  does 
say.  To  those  who  misunderstood  Him 
by  such  literalism,  He  says  Himself  :  **  It 
is  the  spirit  that  giveth  life  :  the  flesh 
profiteth  nothing :  the  words  that  I  have 
spoken  unto  you  are  spirit,  and  are  life  " 
(John  vi.  63). 

What  then  does  Jesus  mean  by  urging 
non-resistance  to  evil  ?  He  means  that 
by  the  display  of  supreme  and  genuine 


io6  Christian  Conduct 

love  His  disciples  should  melt  the  hatred 
of  those  who  hate  them  wherever  this  is 
possible.  There  is  only  one  method  for 
the  cure  of  all  evil,  and  it  is  not  the  homoe- 
opathic cure  of  evil  by  evil,  but  the  allo- 
pathic one  of  evil  by  good.  Unkindness 
can  be  turned  into  kindness  only  by  love  ; 
dishonesty,  greed,  sensuality,  are  the 
demons  that  can  be  cast  out  only  by  the 
breath  of  love. 

Literal  Non-Resistance  may  be  Best  in  Some 
Instances 

Just  how  this  love  is  to  be  most  wisely 
administered  in  each  separate  case  must 
always  remain  for  the  Christian  himself 
to  decide.  It  may  be  that  there  will 
arise  cases  in  which  the  literal  turning  of 
the  other  cheek  shall  prove  the  best  way 
of  exhibiting  the  love  which  Jesus  in- 
culcates. If  the  offending  person  could 
only  be  made  aware  that  it  was  love  for 
him  that  moved  the  offended  one  to  his 
course,  and  not  some  wily  form  of  sel- 


In  Social  Relations         107 

fishness,  seeking  to  secure  ulterior  ends, 
to  gain  an  advantage  in  the  game,  nor 
craven  cowardice  and  weakness,  it  might 
easily  be  seen  that  non-resistance  would 
be  the  precise  conduct  proper  to  adopt. 
But  in  any  case  it  is  not  so  much  just 
what  is  done  as  that  what  is  done  ex- 
presses one's  love  for  the  offender  and  is 
best  calculated  to  win  him  from  hatred 
to  love. 

**  Blessed  are  the  Peacemakers  " 

And,  as  in  the  case  of  one's  own  per- 
sonal relations,  so  in  that  of  the  conduct 
and  relations  of  others.  The  disciple's 
instinctive  attitude  should  be  towards  the 
extinction  of  all  hatred  and  strife.  So 
abhorrent  indeed  should  he  hold  every 
breach  of  the  law  of  love  that  he  should 
spare  no  effort  to  heal  such  breach.  In 
doing  this,  he  will  illustrate  his  true  rela- 
tion to  God  Himself.  **  Blessed  are  the 
peacemakers,  for  they  shall  be  called  sons 
of  God." 


io8  Christian  Conduct 

Rebuke  of  Anger 
As  to  the  positive  outbreaks  which 
raise  the  question  of  resistance  or  non- 
resistance,  Jesus  nowhere  expresses  Him- 
self more  severely  and  more  explicitly 
than  against  them.  **  Everyone  that  is 
angry  with  his  brother  (without  a  cause) 
shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judgment:  and 
whosoever  shall  say  to  his  brother,  Raca, 
shall  be  in  danger  of  the  council :  and 
whosoever  shall  say,  Thou  fool,  shall  be 
in  danger  of  the  hell  of  fire  "  (Matt.  v.  22). 

**  Judge  not'' 
Jesus  is  manifestly  not  content  to  wait 
until  lovelessness  has  reached  an  open 
outbreak.  He  would  watch  its  begin- 
nings, and  pluck  it  out  like  a  foul  weed 
before  it  has  come  to  produce  its  poison- 
ous fruit.  He  searches  for  it  in  the 
depths  of  the  heart.  "  Every  one  that 
is  angry  shall  be  in  danger  of  the  judg- 
ment "  even  before  he  has  expressed  his 
anger  in  the  first  word.     "  Judge  not  that 


In  Social  Relations         109 

ye  be  not  judged."  Censoriousness  is 
the  first  step  in  the  steep  downward 
course. 

Positive  Expression  of  Love 

Thus  far,  we  have  taken  into  account 
only  the  cases  in  which  the  law  of  love  is 
violated  or  is  in  danger  of  violation. 
These  are  a  part,  possibly  the  smaller 
part,  of  its  whole  sphere  of  operation. 
After  all,  the  experience  of  man  includes 
more  peace  than  warfare,  more  harmony 
than  conflict,  the  pessimist  to  the  contrary 
notwithstanding.  Jesus  would  have  all 
these  more  normal  stages  suffused  and 
glorified  by  the  control  of  a  positive  love. 
But  this  portion  of  the  field  was  not  de- 
batable ground,  and  Jesus  does  not  go 
out  of  His  way  to  speak  of  it  simply 
in  order  to  make  an  academically  com- 
plete thesis  on  the  subject.  He  takes 
it  for  granted  that  where  the  provocations 
to  violate  the  requirement  do  not  emerge, 
the  law  of  love  will  be  observed. 


no         Christian    Conduct 

Loves  Many  Forms 

Love  is  not  indiscriminate ;  but  it  is 
not  exclusive.  In  other  words,  as  there 
are  different  kinds  and  degrees  of  it,  dif- 
ferent individuals  coming  into  touch  with 
the  follower  of  Christ  will  claim  each 
what  is  appropriate  to  himself.  The 
kinsman  will  have  a  right  to  the  love  of 
kinship,  the  friend  to  the  love  of  friend- 
ship, the  distressed  and  needy  to  the  love 
of  compassion,  and  the  prosperous  to  the 
unenvying  love  of  congratulation.  But 
there  must  be  love  for  all,  even  the  en- 
emy and  the  persecutor,  the  love  which 
wishes  the  highest  welfare,  and  will  not 
deny  those  who  bear  these  relations  to 
one's  self  any  needed  blessing.  This  is 
the  type  of  the  love  which  God  the 
heavenly  Father  lavishes.  "  For  He 
maketh  His  sun  to  rise  on  the  evil  and 
the  good,  and  sendeth  rain  on  the  just 
and  on  the  unjust." 

Finally,   love  must  be  aggressive.     It 


In  Social  Relations         1 1 1 

must  not  wait  for  an  occasion  which  shall 
call  it  forth  in  order  to  make  itself  felt. 
It  must  seek,  we  may  go  further  and  say, 
it  must  create  such  occasions.  This  is 
undoubtedly  to  be  gathered  from  the  in- 
cident of  the  feet  washing  ( John  xiii). 
Here,  Jesus  shows  in  an  acted  parable 
the  spirit  of  humble  service.  The  time 
has  perhaps  passed  for  insisting  on  not 
taking  the  incident  in  a  literal  sense,  either 
as  establishing  a  sacrament  or  as  defining 
with  precision  the  actual  performance  of 
such  a  duty  simply  in  token  of  humility. 
Yet  the  spirit  of  the  teaching,  inculcating 
as  it  does  the  expression  of  love,  in  the 
self-abasing  service  of  others,  has  not  been 
and  is  not  likely  to  be  outgrown. 


CHAPTER   IX 

The  Christian  in  the  State. 

rHE  attitude  of  Jesus  to  the  civil 
government  of  His  day  vv^as  a 
matter  of  the  deepest  interest  and 
keenest  concern  to  His  own  contempo- 
raries. The  ideal  relation  of  the  loyal 
Israelite  to  the  world-powders  was  differ- 
ently conceived  by  representatives  of  dif- 
ferent factions.  It  was  a  many-sided 
question.  Should  the  faithful  refuse  to 
tolerate  foreign  rule  and  actively  engage 
in  schemes  designed  to  terminate  it? 
Should  he  accept  the  status  quo  under 
protest,  but  patiently  wait  the  apocalyptic 

112 


The  Christian  In  the  State  1 1 3 

establishment  of  the  divine  order  ?  Or 
should  he  consent  to  take  it  as  the  ex- 
pression of  the  divine  will,  and  by  sub- 
mission to  it  as  unto  God's  righteous 
visitation  for  national  sin,  help  to  expiate 
that  sin  and  bring  the  evil  to  an  end  ? 


Interest  in  lesus  Political  Views 

What  would  Jesus  say  and  teach  the 
people  on  these  questions  ?  They  sent  a 
deputation  to  Him  to  find  out.  They 
had  a  general  idea  that  His  view  was  not 
sound,  and  hoped  He  would  explicitly 
commit  Himself  to  an  extreme  state- 
ment. It  were  better  that  His  statement 
should  be  explicit  and  extreme  rather 
than  mediating  and  ambiguous  ;  for  in 
the  former  case,  by  charging  Him  with 
seditious  teaching  and  proving  Him 
guilty,  they  could  be  rid  of  his  irritating 
activity.  It  is  very  plain  that  they  meant 
to  use  any  anti-Roman  expressions  in  this 
way ;    for  their   chief   lever   in   moving 

H 


1 1 4  Christian  Conduct 

Pilate  to  His  crucifixion  was  just  the 
charge  of  treason  against  Csesar.  "If 
thou  release  this  man,  thou  art  not 
Caesar's  friend :  every  one  that  maketh 
himself  a  king  speaketh  against  Caesar  " 
(John  xix.  12). 

The  question,  Where  does  Jesus  stand 
in  politics  ?  has  not  lost  its  interest  and 
importance  through  the  change  from 
Roman  imperial  domination  to  modern 
democratic  conditions.  What  did  Jesus 
say  of  the  ideal  state  ?  is  still  being  asked, 
and  still  variously  answered.  The  be- 
liever in  the  unrighteousness  of  all  gov- 
ernment claims  Jesus  on  his  side  ;  and 
the  advocate  of  the  strict  authoritative 
organization  of  human  society,  with  the 
definite  commission  of  authority  from 
above  into  the  hands  of  rulers,  asserts 
that  his  view  is  inevitably  deduced  from 
the  principles  of  Jesus.  The  one  may 
plead  the  absolute  freedom  which  Jesus 
preached  for  all  who  were  imbued  with 
the    spirit    of    filial    love    to    God    and 


The  Christian  hi  the  State  1 15 

brotherly  love  to  man  for  his  side  of  the 
case.  The  sons  of  God  need  no  con- 
straints of  authority.  But  the  other  may 
plead  the  fact  that  Jesus  recognized 
Caesar  as  having  legitimate  authority 
(Matt.  xxii.  21). 

Jesus  does   not  theorize  on  the  State.     His 
Double  Relation  to  It 

Happily,  we  are  not  concerned  v^ith 
the  question  so  far  as  it  is  a  question  of 
theory.  This  may  be  said,  however,  by 
way  of  a  passing  remark,  that  neither  of 
the  political  schools  alluded  to  have  an 
unqualified  right  to  cite  Jesus  as  a  sup- 
porter of  their  tenets.  Jesus  bears  to- 
ward the  state  a  double  relation  in  the 
sphere  of  conduct.  As  far  as  His  own 
personal  actions  are  concerned  (and  let  it 
be  remembered  that  He  would  have  all 
His  disciples  as  nearly  like  Himself  as 
possible),  state  authority  did  not  exist  and 
does  not  exist.     That  there  is  a  govern- 


ii6  Christian   Conduct 

ment  at  some  central  place  in  the  land, 
watching  over  all,  and  preserving  for  all 
their  rights  and  privileges,  adds  nothing 
and  takes  away  nothing  from  His  char- 
acter. It  is  not  meant  that  the  safety 
and  the  right  of  the  Christian  to  live  in 
accordance  with  his  Christian  convictions 
are  not  secured  by  an  ideal  state,  as  they 
would  not  be  where  no  government  ex- 
isted ;  but  that  as  far  as  His  conduct  is 
concerned  it  would  be  neither  less  right- 
eous if  the  state  were  not  there,  nor  is 
it  more  so  because  it  is  there. 

The  other  side  of  Jesus'  relation  to  the 
state  is  that  of  the  guardian  of  the 
brother's  welfare.  Since  humanity  is  not 
in  its  ideal  state,  since,  that  is  to  say,  there 
are  in  it  those  who  are  *'lost,"  it  is  a 
part  of  the  law  of  love  to  reduce  to  the 
least  the  harm  which  such  may  do  to 
themselves  and  to  their  fellow-beings. 
From  this  point  of  view,  Jesus  and  His 
disciples  become  auxiliaries,  even  counter- 
parts of  the  state  as  such.     They  have  a 


The  Christian  In  the  State   1 1 7 

definite  duty  to  perform.  It  belongs  to 
them  to  restrain,  and,  as  far  as  possible, 
to  abolish  the  outcropping  of  loveless- 
ness. 

It  cannot  be  reiterated  too  often  that 
the  root  and  essence  of  all  the  evils  from 
which  mankind  is  suffering  is  loveless- 
ness.  When  these  evils  assume  outward 
and  glaring  forms,  the  state  interferes  to 
counteract  them.  Its  work  is  necessarily 
outward.  It  is  none  the  less  in  the  same 
interest  as  the  work  of  the  Christian  dis- 
ciple, and  may  rightfully  claim  his  en- 
couragement and  active  support.  The 
state's  function  properly  exercised  curbs 
and  removes  the  excesses  of  that  which 
the  Christian  opposes,  not  simply  as  an 
excess,  but  in  its  every  stage  and  form — 
*'root  and  branch."  The  Christian, 
therefore,  cannot  be  indifferent  to  the 
state's  efforts  to  suppress  and  abolish  all 
open  evils  since  he  himself  is  aiming  to 
suppress  and  abolish  not  only  all  open  but 
also  all  secret  evil. 


1 1 8  Christian  Conduct 

The  Christian  Citizen 

The  conduct  of  the  Christian  in  the 
state  is  not  then  to  be  limited  to  the 
mere  recognition  of  the  government  as  a 
necessity  to  be  outgrown.  He  cannot  be 
a  mere  apathetic  and  quiescent  law- 
abiding  citizen.  That  he  must  be  and 
will  be,  not  as  a  Christian  but  as  a  citizen. 
As  a  Christian  he  will  so  act  as  never  to 
be  aware  from  his  own  experience  that 
there  are  laws  to  obey,  except  perhaps 
unrighteous  ones.  His  Christianity  and 
his  citizenship  will  coalesce  up  to  this 
point  as  a  matter  of  course. 

The  Christian  citizen,  however,  will  be 
much  more  than  this.  He  will  be  a  man 
interested  in  every  measure  of  public 
welfare.  He  will  throw  himself  actively 
into  the  purification  of  politics.  He  will 
endorse  and  support  all  efforts  calculated 
to  lessen  vice  and  to  send  that  remnant  of 
it  which  may  not  be  exterminated  into 
comparatively     innocuous     hiding.     He 


The  Christian  In  the  State   1 19 

will  sympathize  with  those  who  are  strug- 
gling with  the  problems  of  social  reform 
and  amelioration,  and,  if  he  be  not  him- 
self an  active  participant  in  these  struggles, 
he  will  give  substantial  encouragement 
and  financial  backing  to  those  who  are. 

In  a  word,  everything  that  will  tend 
to  make  government  thoroughly  Chris- 
tian, everything  that  will  tend  to  produce 
such  legislation  as  will  raise  the  person  of 
man  to  a  pinnacle,  everything  that  will 
lead  men  to  regulate  their  relations  to  one 
another  upon  the  basis  of  fraternity, 
everything  that  will  infuse  the  spirit  of 
love  into  the  administration  of  justice  and 
will  train  the  citizens  to  recognize  in  each 
other  the  image  of  the  heavenly  Father, 
must  call  for  the  enthusiastic  approval  and 
active  co-operation  of  the  disciple  of  Jesus 
Christ. 

Christian    Citizenship  and   the   Christian 

Nation 

There  is  still  another  side  to  the  civic 


I20  Christian  Conduct 

life  of  the  disciple  of  Jesus.  As  the  leaf 
has  stamped  on  itself  the  pattern  of  the 
tree,  so  the  individual  has  on  himself  the 
pattern  of  the  community  or  nation  of 
which  he  is  a  member.  It  is  often  said 
that  corporations  have  no  souls.  If  this 
is  true,  it  is  because  the  souls  of  the  in- 
dividuals that  make  them  up  are  in  some 
way  defective,  and  their  totality  in  the 
corporation  results  in  the  lack  of  a  cor- 
porate soul  big  enough  to  make  its  pres- 
ence known.  One  man  with  a  great 
soul  has  many  a  time  made  an  honorable 
exception  to  the  rule  by  infusing  his  own 
soul-force  into  its  affairs.  What  is  true 
of  the  corporation  is  equally  true  of  the 
nation.  A  nation  of  true  Christians  could 
not  help  being  a  Christian  nation. 

It  has  been  said  that  '*  Christianity  has 
been  a  powerful  influence  in  the  personal 
life  of  men,  but  it  has  failed  equally  to 
control  the  commercial  and  political  life. " 
There  is  a  large  grain  of  truth  in  this 
criticism,  but  it  holds  not  against  the  ideal 


The  Christian  In  the  State  121 

Christianity,  but  against  men's  failure  to 
actualize  it.  Let  the  law  of  Jesus  be  prac- 
tised in  its  integrity  and  completeness  by 
individuals,  and  the  result  must  inevitably 
be  a  nation  possessed  of  and  controlled  by 
a  Christian  national  conscience.  And  a 
nation  acting  out  among  nations  the  life 
which  is  ideally  Christian  will  be  exactly 
like  an  individual  living  his  faith  in  Christ 
and  his  acceptance  of  Christ's  teaching 
among  individuals.  The  next  step  in 
the  development  of  Christianity  in  the 
world's  history  should  be  the  appearance 
of  a  thoroughly  Christian  nation  to  Chris- 
tianize international  relations. 

The   Christian    Citizen  and  International 
Relations 

All  this  points  to  the  final  goal  for  all 
civic  activity  on  the  part  of  the  disciple 
of  Jesus  ;  it  is  the  establishment  of  frater- 
nal relations  among  all  the  races  and  na- 
tions and  tribes  of  mankind.    The  disciple 


122  Christian  Conduct 

as  an  individual  may  appear  impotent  be- 
fore such  a  tremendous  task.  But  it  is 
as  each  individual  disciple  does  what  he 
can  towards  its  accomplishment  that  the 
task  will  eventually  be  accomplished, 
and  the  kingdoms  of  the  world  become 
the  kingdom  of  our  Lord.  Whatever, 
therefore,  makes  for  peace  and  helpful- 
ness in  international  relations,  whatever 
conduces  to  fairness,  frankness  and  frater- 
nity in  diplomacy,  whatever  diminishes 
the  oppression  of  the  weaker  races  by  the 
stronger,  whatever  tends  to  the  taking  of 
the  burdens  of  the  inferior  by  the  supe- 
rior upon  themselves,  calls  for  the  cor- 
dial approval  and  help  of  the  disciple  of 
Jesus. 


CHAPTER  X 

The  Christian  in  the  Family. 

rHERE  are  no  relations  in  life 
which  bring  into  clearer  view  the 
beauties  of  a  character  formed 
upon  the  basis  of  the  principles  of  Jesus, 
than  those  which  center  about  the  home. 
Here,  on  account  of  the  controlling  pres- 
ence of  natural  affection,  there  is  a 
beginning  of  loving  service  and  self- 
sacrifice,  even  before  the  teaching  of 
Jesus  has  come.  But  here,  too,  there 
are  possibilities  of  a  contrary  tendency, 
such  as  appear  nowhere  else.  The  re- 
lations are  close   and  at  the  same  time 

123 


124  Christian  Conduct 

compulsory.  Should  the  natural  affec- 
tion which  is  depended  on  to  make  them 
healthy  and  helpful  prove  weak  or  fail, 
the  home  is  changed  from  a  haven  of 
rest  and  happiness  into  a  place  of  fearful 
torment. 


The  Home  a  Legitimate  Sphere  for 
Christian  Love 

Accordingly,  the  home,  where  the 
love  preached  by  Jesus  might  have  ap- 
peared to  be  unnecessary,  stands  all  the 
more  in  urgent  need  of  that  love.  For 
this  purer  and  holier  love  supplements  the 
weakness  of  natural  affection,  making  it 
constant  and  firm  when  it  is  in  danger  of 
failing  ;  it  sanctifies  and  enhances  it  when 
sufficiently  strong  and  imparts  to  all  its 
workings  the  afflatus  and  aroma  of  divinity 
itself ;  it  takes  up  the  lines  created  by  the 
home,  adopts  them  into  the  spiritual 
sphere,  and  fastens  them  on  the  eternal 
life  of  God  Himself.     It  makes  God  a 


The  Christian  in  the  Family  1 25 

constant  member  and  witness  of  the  ex- 
periences of  the  home.  In  a  true  though 
spiritual  sense,  the  commandment  of  love 
erects  an  altar  in  every  household  that 
may  adopt  it  as  its  governing  principle. 

The  Family  in  the  Age  of  Jesus 

It  is  of  the  highest  importance,  then, 
to  ask.  How  did  Jesus  teach  His  disciples 
to  regard  the  home  and  himself  as  a 
member  of  it  ?  The  condition  of  affairs 
in  His  day  did  not  leave  Jesus  the  option 
of  speaking  or  keeping  silence  upon  this 
subject.  The  question  was  fairly  thrust 
before  His  attention.  Among  the  Ro- 
mans, the  household  had  ceased  to  be 
what  it  once  was,  a  sacred  unity.  The 
moralists  and  poets  of  the  age  give  a  sad 
picture  of  the  situation.  The  Christian 
writers  of  a  century  or  two  later  may  be 
considered  prejudiced  in  favor  of  another 
ideal,  and  therefore  their  accounts  of 
family  life  among  the  heathen  may  have 


126  Christian  Conduct 

to  be  discounted  ;  but  the  heathen  philos- 
ophers, speaking  out  of  the  midst  of  the 
conditions  themselves,  give  the  same  pic- 
ture in  quite  as  clear  lines  and  colors. 

In  the  nearer  circle  of  Judaism  also, 
the  spirit  of  laxity  had  appeared.  By 
adopting  a  liberal  interpretation  of  the 
law  in  Deuteronomy  the  rabbis  had  in- 
culcated loose  views  of  the  marriage  tie, 
and  without  theorizing  on  the  subject, 
the  Jews  had  practically  settled  to  the 
modern  day  doctrine  that  marriage  is  a 
civil  contract. 

The  Family  a  Divine  Institution 

Here  then,  at  the  very  root  of  the 
whole  matter,  Jesus  found  it  necessary 
to  strike  the  first  blow.  The  foundation 
of  His  teaching  is  that  the  home  is  a  di- 
vine institution,  not  a  result  of  gradual 
development  during  the  course  of  hu- 
man history.  If  that  had  been  the  case, 
there  would  have  been  a  time  when  the 
human  race  lived  and  fulfilled  the  will  of 


The  Christian  in  the  Family  127 

God  without  the  family.  And  there 
might  be  a  time  in  a  different  stage  of 
evolution  in  the  future,  when  the  family 
should  be  antiquated  and  outlived  as  a 
matter  of  convenience.  This,  according 
to  Jesus,  is  impossible.  **  He  who  made 
them  from  the  beginning,  made  them 
male  and  female,  and  said.  For  this  cause 
shall  a  man  leave  his  father  and  mother, 
and  shall  cleave  to  his  wife  ;  and  the 
two  shall  become  one  flesh  "  ( Matt. 
xix.  4,  5). 

The  origin  of  the  home,  then,  is  to  be 
traced  to  a  direct  act  of  God.  *'  From  the 
beginning,"  He  had  a  definite  plan  on  the 
subject,  and  it  was  a  plan  to  prevail  and 
last  as  long  as  mankind  should.  That 
plan  involved  the  union  of  one  man  with 
one  woman.  Violations  of  this  rule, 
Jesus  considers  as  departures  from  the 
ideal.  To  this  His  age  and  generation 
could  not  interpose  any  objection.  Ju- 
daism had  settled  down  to  the  general 
conclusion  that    polygamy     should     be 


128  Christian  Condtid 

abandoned.  With  very  few  exceptions, 
no  Israelite  took  advantage  of  the  prece- 
dents given  in  the  earlier  history  of  the 
Old  Testament  in  favor  of  polygamy. 

Jesus  and  Divorce 

There  was,  however,  another  practice 
which  amounted  to  virtual  polygamy, 
/*.  ^.,  easy  divorce.  The  ancients  had 
entered  into  legalized  relations  with  more 
than  one  wife  at  the  same  time  ;  the  men 
of  Jesus'  age  substituted  for  this,  separa- 
tion from  one  wife  upon  slight  grounds 
and  union  with  another.  The  appear- 
ance and  responsibility  of  a  polygamous 
household  were  avoided  ;  but  the  essential 
principle  of  the  family  as  a  divine  ordinance 
headed  by  one  man  and  one  woman,  was 
effectually  set  at  nought.  The  difference 
between  the  ancients  and  the  contempo- 
raries of  Jesus  was  simply  that  the  former 
did  not  put  away  one  wife  in  order  to 
take  another,  and  the  latter  did.     Jesus, 


The  Christian  in  the  Family  129 

of  course,  could  not  but  denounce  the 
practice.  **  Everyone  that  putteth  away 
his  wife  and  marrieth  another  commit- 
teth  adultery,  and  he  that  marrieth  one 
that  is  put  away  from  a  husband  commit- 
teth  adultery  "  (Luke  xvi.  18 ;  Matt.  v. 
32). 

Marriage  was  according  to  Jesus  a  life- 
long union.  Divorce  was  not  to  be 
thought  of  as  included  in  this  idea. 
Neither  state  nor  church  could  in  the 
strict  sense  grant  a  divorce.  The  only 
person  or  persons  that  could  accomplish 
the  breaking  of  the  tie  were  the  parties 
united  in  marriage,  and  they  could  not 
do  so  except  by  a  heinous  sin  against  the 
law  of  God.  A  man  **  could  put  away 
his  wife  for  the  cause  of  fornication  only  " 
(Matt.  xix.  9),  which  means  that  putting 
away  is  simply  a  testimony  against  the 
sin  committed,  a  declaration  that  the  tie 
is  broken.  It  is  not  divorce  that  breaks 
up  the  marriage  relation,  but  the  sin 
which  precedes  and  furnishes  ground  for 


130  Christian  Conduct 

it.  The  separation  which  takes  place 
and  which  may  be  called  by  the  name  of 
divorce,  or  any  other,  is  nothing  more 
than  the  recognition  of  the  fact  that  the 
bond  has  been  broken.  Divorce  of  an 
innocent  nature,  /'.  ^.,  divorce  out  of  which 
both  parties  emerge  without  sin  before 
God  and  men  is  unthinkable  in  the  ideal 
of  Jesus. 

The  theory  underlying  this  view  seems 
to  be  that  when  marriage  is  constituted 
as  an  ordinance  of  God,  it  results  in  the 
creation  of  a  new  unity,  which  is  a  new 
organism.  That  organism  cannot  be 
destroyed  without  offence  to  God  any 
more  than  a  living  human  being  can  be 
arbitrarily  put  to  death.  But  when  by  a 
transgression  of  this  law  it  has  been  de- 
stroyed, as  there  are  two  parties  constitut- 
ing it,  the  party  that  is  blameless  has  the 
right  to  have  the  rupture  declared  and 
thus  secure  freedom. 

He  or  she  has  this  right.  Jesus  does 
not,  however,  through  His  teaching  make 


The  Christian  in  the  Fmnily  131 

it  obligatory  on  them  to  use  it.  It  is  a 
permissive  rather  than  a  mandatory  law. 
In  a  case  where  the  ground  of  divorce 
recognized  by  Jesus  as  the  only  valid  one 
exists,  and  the  aggrieved  party  is  perfectly 
satisfied  that  the  sin  has  been  sincerely 
repented  of,  and  desires  to  extend  for- 
giveness and  a  continuation  of  the  old  re- 
lation, there  is  nothing  in  what  Jesus  has 
said  to  forbid.  Rather  the  opposite  ;  the 
law  of  forgiveness  and  reconciliation 
would  dictate,  or  at  any  rate  encourage, 
this  course. 

When  Marriage  May  Not  Be  Entered 

This  element  of  voluntariness  in  the 
matter  applies  with  equal  force  to  the 
whole  subject  of  marriage.  It  is  not  ob- 
ligatory to  marry.  Rather  than  do  so, 
and  violate  the  law  of  the  Kingdom, 
Jesus  would  have  men  made  **  eunuchs  " 
for  the  sake  of  the  Kingdom  of  heaven 
(Matt.  xix.  12).  The  emphasis  here  is 
upon  the  phrase  '*  Kingdom  of  heaven." 


132  Christian  Conduct 

The  disciples  had  objected  to  His  law  re- 
garding marriage,  that  it  made  it  prefer- 
able not  to  marry.  He  grants  the  posi- 
tion that  it  is  better  at  times  not  to  marry, 
but  explains  that  the  ground  for  such 
conduct  should  not  be  the  impossibility 
of  dissolving  the  tie  without  sin,  nor  the 
obligation  to  abide  perpetually  in  the 
covenant  relationship,  but  other  and 
higher  reasons.  There  are  some  who 
by  birth  and  natural  endowment  are  shut 
out  to  a  single  life.  There  are  others 
whom  the  exigencies  of  human  affairs 
compel  to  the  same  state.  '*  They  are 
made  eunuchs  of  men."  There  is  a  third 
class  consisting  of  those  who  voluntarily 
adopt  this  mode  of  life  '*  for  the  King- 
dom of  heaven's  sake. "  In  all  cases,  but 
especially  the  last,  the  law  of  fraternal 
love  dictates  this  course. 

Purity  an  Inner  Quality 

The  same  law  of  fraternal  love  guards 
individuals  against  those  offences  which 


The  Christian  in  the  Funnily  133 

without  breaking  the  marriage  bond 
directly,  relax  and  lower  this  high  ideal, 
preached  by  Jesus.  It  is  not  necessary 
that  the  act  of  adultery  should  have  been 
performed  ;  not  even  the  act  of  fornica- 
tion, which  may  not  involve  an  attack 
upon  the  sanctity  of  a  particular  family  ; 
it  is  enough  that  the  lustful  thought 
should  have  been  encouraged  in  the 
heart  to  call  for  the  condemnation  of 
Jesus  (Matt.  v.  28). 

Relations  within  the  Home 

The  regulation  of  the  relations  of  the 
various  members  of  the  household  to  one 
another  and  the  prescription  of  their  re- 
spective duties  was  not  within  the  scope 
of  the  mission  of  Jesus.  On  this  matter, 
as  on  all  other  matters  of  detail.  He  al- 
lowed the  principles  He  taught  to  work 
out  their  own  practical  bearings.  It  was 
enough  that  the  divine  origin,  the  sacred 
character  and  the  lifelong  duration  of  the 
social  bond  of  the  family  should  be  held 


134         Christian  Conduct 

before  the  eye.  If  this  was  appreciated, 
it  could  not  but  result  in  the  engendering 
of  the  constitutive  power  of  love.  Nay, 
it  must  do  more  than  that ;  it  must  foster 
and  develop  this  motive  by  the  healthy 
result  of  the  ideally  organized  household. 
And  where  love  rules,  the  prescription  of 
duties  to  husbands  towards  their  wives,  or 
to  wives  towards  their  husbands  ;  to  chil- 
dren towards  their  parents  and  to  parents 
towards  their  children,  to  brothers  and  sis- 
ters towards  one  another,  would  be  a  work 
of  supererogation.  Such  flagrant  viola- 
tions of  duty  as  that  rebuked  in  Mark 
vii.  10-13,  would  be  absolutely  impossible. 

Jesus  and  Woman 

The  attitude  of  Jesus  towards  the  ques- 
tion of  woman's  position  in  society  is  left 
in  the  sources  in  such  an  indefinite  form 
that  diametrically  opposite  views  re- 
garding it  have  been  propounded.  On 
the  one  side  it  has  been  said  that  Jesus 
treated  women  as  the  rest  of  the  Jews  of 


The  Christian  in  the  Family  135 

His  day  did  ;  and  this  as  a  natural  conse- 
quence of  His  acceptance  of  the  Old 
Testament  system  and  its  generally  low 
view  of  woman.  Hence  His  teaching, 
had  He  cared  to  give  it  explicitly,  would 
not  have  been  far  above  the  level  of  that 
of  His  contemporaries. 

On  the  other  hand,  all  that  has  gone 
towards  the  emancipation  and  elevation 
of  woman  to  the  position  of  equality  with 
her  brother  man  has  been  read  into  His 
teaching.  The  truth  is  that  Jesus  said 
nothing  explicitly  ;  but  His  personal  atti- 
tude towards  women,  while  little  differ- 
ent perhaps  outwardly  from  that  of  His 
contemporaries,  was  in  spirit  exactly  the 
opposite,  and  by  placing  love  and  frater- 
nity at  the  center  of  the  whole  circle  of 
human  activity.  He  set  in  motion  the  so- 
cial forces  that  were  destined  inevitably 
to  bring  about  a  complete  revolution  and 
lead  to  the  later  developments  on  this 
point. 


CHAPTER  XI 

The  Christian  in  Business. 

7i  /^  UCH  of  what  Jesus  says  on  busi- 
J  f\£  ness  affairs  appears  to  be  in 
glaring  contradiction  with  the 
rules  and  practices  of  modern  Christen- 
dom. And  perhaps  upon  the  whole 
there  is  no  department  of  human  activity 
into  which  it  has  been  more  difficult  to 
admit  His  influence  than  the  industrial 
and  commercial  world.  If  His  precepts 
were  adhered  to  with  even  ordinary  re- 
gard to  their  superficial  sense,  present- 
day  commerce  and  finance  would  have 
to  be  radically  reorganized. 
136 


The  Christian  in  Business  137 

General  Character  of  Jesus  Teaching  on 
Business 

But  it  is  quite  possible  on  the  other 
hand  to  take  these  utterances  of  Jesus  so 
literally  that  they  could  not  possibly  be 
put  into  execution  as  rules  of  conduct. 
**  Give  to  him  that  asketh  of  thee,  and 
of  him  that  taketh  away  thy  goods,  ask 
them  not  again."  How  long  would  a 
man  be  in  position  to  carry  on  business 
transactions  if  he  acted  that  out  literally  ? 
The  fact  is,  that  in  this  matter,  as  in 
the  teachings  regarding  apparent  non- 
resistance  to  evil,  Jesus  is  expressing  em- 
phatically and  impressively  the  cardinal 
law  of  love.  Philanthropy  and  business 
are  ordinarily  supposed  to  be  at  the  op- 
posite poles  of  the  sphere.  *'  You  would 
not  expect  a  philanthropist  to  be  a  prac- 
tical man,"  says  one  who  claims  to  repre- 
sent the  latter  type.  And  as  Jesus'  pre- 
dominant teaching  had  a  philanthropic 
tendency  and  result,  even  though  it  may 


138  Christian  Conduct 

not  come  under  that  misused  name  as 
commonly  understood,  it  has  occasionally 
been  charged  with  being  visionary.  But 
Jesus  is  not  a  philanthropist  of  the  type 
found  in  works  of  fiction.  If  He  does  lay 
stress  on  the  altruistic  side  of  all  relations, 
it  is  because  men  in  His  day,  like  men  in 
all  ages,  have  more  need  of  being  driven 
to  see  these  than  the  selfish  sides  of  the 
same  relations. 

In  fact  there  is  that  in  business  pursuits 
which  fosters  and  nourishes  the  selfish 
instincts.  **  Not  in  the  business  for  love," 
is  a  colloquialism  showing  how  com- 
pletely business  and  love  are  supposed  to 
be  separated  from  one  another  and  irrec- 
oncilable in  the  same  person.  Men  are 
wiUing  to  be  benevolent,  but  they  do  not 
care  to  have  their  benevolence  mixed 
with  their  business.  It  is  these  condi- 
tions, the  same  in  His  day  as  now,  that 
determined  the  form  of  Jesus'  expres- 
sions on  this  subject.  But  after  we 
realize  that  in  order  to  reach  His  thought 


The  Christian  in  Business  139 

we  must  seize  upon  the  central  principle, 
and  not  upon  the  accidental  and  passing 
features  of  the  way  He  expressed  it,  we 
shall  have  Uttle  trouble  in  seeing  here,  too, 
the  one  dominant  idea  of  love  to  men  as 
men  to  be  the  ruling  principle  of  the 
conduct  prescribed  by  Jesus. 

Jesus  and  the  Question  of  Property 

Here,  for  instance,  is  the  question  :  Is 
the  disciple  of  Jesus  permitted  to  hold 
property  ?  The  answer  is.  Only  if  he 
can  do  so  consistently  with  the  law  of 
love.  What  a  man  is,  is  of  more  impor- 
tance than  what  he  has  or  does.  "  A 
man's  life  consisteth  not  in  the  abundance 
of  the  things  which  he  possesseth." 
Jesus  did  not  give  every  rich  man  that 
came  to  Him  the  command  to  go  and 
sell  all  that  he  had  and  to  distribute  unto 
the  poor  (Luke  xviii.  22).  In  the  case 
in  which  He  did  give  this  command,  the 
event  showed  that  that  was  precisely 
what  the  young  man  needed  to  be  told ; 


140  Christian  Conduct 

without  that  self-stripping  and  self-con- 
secration, for  him  it  was  impossible  to 
attain  Christ's  condition  for  holding 
wealth.  Only  as  he  was  willing  to  re- 
nounce all,  would  he  have  proven  him- 
self to  possess  the  state  of  mind  and  heart 
which  would  make  him  competent  to 
use  it  rightly. 

Upon  this  condition,  however,  /'.  e.,  of 
the  ability  to  make  proper  use  of  prop- 
erty, Jesus  bases  the  tacit  but  unquestion- 
able recognition  of  the  right  to  acquire 
and  hold  it.  "  Sell  that  ye  have  and  give 
alms  "  (Luke  xii.  33),  He  says.  But  how 
can  one  sell  what  he  does  not  have  a 
right  to  own  or  use  ?  Zacchasus  was  con- 
verted from  an  extortioner  to  a  just  man, 
and  declared  that  he  would  make  restitu- 
tion of  what  he  had  unjustly  taken. 
Jesus  did  not  require  him  to  give  up 
everything.  Among  His  friends  there 
were  persons  who  owned  houses,  like 
the  family  at  Bethany  ( John  xii.  1-5), 
also  Peter  (Matt.  viii.  14),  and  means  out 


The  Christian  in  Business  141 

of  which  they  ministered  to  him  (Luke 
viii.  3).  He  nowhere  requires  them  to 
relinquish  their  hold  on  these  things.  In 
His  parables,  He  repeatedly  bases  His 
moral  teachings  upon  the  right  use  of 
money.  The  word  *'  talent  "  has  come  to 
be  so  generally  understood  in  the  sense  of 
a  natural  gift  or  power,  that  we  often  for- 
get its  primary  meaning  of  a  unit  of 
money  (Matt.  xxv.  14-30  ;  Luke  xix. 
13-27 ;  xvi.  1-13 ;  xii.  16-31). 

Spiritual  Perils  of  Wealth 

But  if  the  acquisition  of  wealth  is  in 
itself  right  and  necessary,  the  temptations 
and  dangers  that  beset  it  are  both  nu- 
merous and  serious.  So  are  the  dangers 
attending  the  use  of  money.  The  first 
and  most  obvious  of  these  is  the  insidious 
transference  of  wealth  from  the  place  of 
a  means  to  that  of  an  end  of  life.  Where 
this  takes  place,  and  it  does  take  place  in 
an  incredibly  large  proportion  of  in- 
stances, the  sin  of  covetousness  has  made 


142  Christian  Conduct 

its  appearance  full-fledged,  and  against 
covetousness  Jesus  has  a  definite  warning 
to  give.  **Take  heed,  and  beware  of 
covetousness."  This  is  what  makes  riches 
such  a  hindrance  in  the  effort  to  enter 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  "  How  hardly 
shall  they  that  have  riches  enter  into  the 
kingdom  of  God  "  (Luke  xviii.  25). 

Character  above  all  Wealth 

If  riches  are  always  to  be  regarded  as 
a  means  towards  an  end,  and  not  an  end 
in  themselves,  the  slightest  blemish  pro- 
duced in  the  soul  in  the  process  of  their 
acquisition  and  use  is  an  incalculable  loss. 
"  What  shall  a  man  give  in  exchange  for 
his  soul?"  must  not  be  interpreted  too 
narrowly  as  referring  simply  to  the  total 
loss  of  a  person  in  eternity,  but  to  all 
weakenings  and  pollutions  of  the  spiritual 
life,  to  all  sacrifice  of  spiritual  interest, 
for  mere  material  advantage  in  the  life 
that  now  is.  No  amount  of  money  can 
pay  for  a  blot  on  character. 


The  Christian  in  Business  143 

The  Right  Use  of  Wealth 

But  this  is  a  negative  conclusion.  Its 
converse  in  the  positive  form  is  quite  as 
true  and  even  more  urgent.  Wealth 
must  be  transformed  into  manhood  if  it 
shall  serve  its  true  and  lawful  purpose. 
Otherwise,  even  though  not  abused,  it  is 
no  better  than  rubbish.  It  can  be  trans- 
muted into  the  pure  gold  of  manhood 
by  being  used  in  the  expression  of  love 
or  in  the  relief  of  distress  and  want. 
Both  of  these  uses  are  perfectly  legiti- 
mate. Ordinarily,  the  latter  is  given  the 
preference.  Its  propriety  is,  of  course, 
more  obvious.  But  there  are  circum- 
stances when  the  mere  expression  of 
well-placed  sentiment  would  rightfully 
claim  precedence.  When  they  mur- 
mured because  in  the  house  of  Simon 
the  leper  at  Bethany  a  woman  poured 
upon  His  head  the  precious  ointment 
from  the  alabaster  cruse  (Matt.  xxvi.  7). 
Jesus  bade  them  not  interfere  with  her, 


144  Christian  Conduct 

and  declared  her  act  to  be  a  good  work ; 
it  expressed  her  devotion. 

Jesus'  Wholesome  Reticence  on  Details. 

It  is  becoming  clearer  as  the  modern 
industrial  evolution  is  rapidly  presenting 
the  new  phases  of  the  problem  of  em- 
ployment, that  there  was  a  supreme  wis- 
dom in  the  silence  with  which  Jesus 
treats  the  relations  of  the  laboring  men 
of  His  day  to  their  rich  employers.  Had 
He  pronounced  judgment  upon  the  facts 
as  existing  in  His  day,  it  would  have  been 
an  easy  matter  to  plead  that  the  changed 
conditions  of  modern  life  rendered  His 
judgments  inapplicable  and  therefore  val- 
ueless. As  it  is.  He  effectively  reaches 
all  conditions  of  all  ages  by  laying  down 
fundamental  principles  whose  value  and 
applicability  can  never  be  outgrown. 

Capitalist  and  laboring  man  will  have 
no  difficulty  in  solving  their  problems,  if 
they  will  only  go  to  Jesus  and  learn 
from  Him  His  law  of  love.     There  is  no 


The  Christian  in  Business  145 

crying  evil  in  the  situation  which  is  not 
provided  for  by  some  application  of  that 
law.  Were  the  law  perfectly  obeyed,  dis- 
honesty either  on  a  large  scale  or  on  a 
small  scale  would  utterly  disappear.  So 
would  cruelty  and  the  sacrifice  of  purity 
and  honor.  To  diminish  one's  respect 
for  truth,  to  come  out  less  kind  and  con- 
siderate from  a  business  transaction  for 
the  sake  of  any  amount  of  material  gain, 
would  be  impossible. 
J 


CHAPTER  XII 

The  Christian  in  the  Church 

JESUS  not  only  outlined  the  ideal 
which  His  followers  should  realize 
in  the  world,  but  He  also  provided 
a  social  organization  which  should  enact 
and  enforce  His  ideals.  The  question, 
did  He  do  this  in  a  formal  and  explicit 
manner  need  not  detain  us.  It  is  enough 
that  He  gathered  about  Himself  a  band 
of  associates  and  followers,  and  that  out 
of  that  band  there  has  arisen  a  large  com- 
munity, held  together  by  peculiar  ties  ; 
it  is  enough  that  the  Church  exists  as  the 
visible  body  of  those  who  take  Jesus 
146 


The  Christian  in  the  Church  147 

Christ  as  their  final  authority  on  all 
things.  That  fact  must  have  inevitable 
bearings  on  the  conduct  of  those  who 
constitute  the  community.  And  if  the 
relations  of  the  members  of  the  church 
to  one  another  are  in  principle  the  rela- 
tions which  the  members  of  the  original 
band  of  His  intimate  followers  sustained 
to  one  another.  His  instructions  to  these 
are  in  a  sense  the  charter  and  constitution 
of  the  church  of  the  ages  succeeding. 

The  Law  of  Love  Adapted  to   the  New 
Community 

But  did  not  He  give  the  same  law  of 
love  to  His  disciples  to  govern  them  in 
their  relations  with  one  another  as  well 
as  to  govern  them  in  their  conduct  and 
relations  to  the  world  ?  He  undoubtedly 
did.  Yet  this  law  works  into  varying  ex- 
pressions as  it  operates  upon  different 
classes  of  relationships,  just  as  the  same 
sunshine  operates  differently  as  it  falls  on 
water  or  on  the  germ-laden  soil  in  the 


148  Christian  Conduct 

spring  time  ;  the  one  it  transforms  into 
vapor  and  scatters  abroad,  the  other  it 
helps  to  integrate  the  forces  imbedded  in 
it  and  push  them  to  the  surface  in  the 
form  of  organized  living,  growing  plants. 
Let  us  look  at  the  working  of  the  law 
of  love  within  the  community  of  those 
who  with  one  accord  put  themselves  un- 
der its  sway  and  undertake  to  harmonize 
their  conduct  to  its  requirements.  The 
first  visible  result  is  that  these  at  once  rec- 
ognize in  each  other  children  of  the  same 
heavenly  Father.  They  are  **  brethren." 
That  is  what  they  called  each  other  in 
the  earliest  days.  And  it  was  not  a  name 
which  they  devised  for  themselves,  though 
they  might  have  done  so  in  the  circum- 
stances, but  one  which  they  took  in  pur- 
suance of  His  desire  and  teaching.  **  And 
all  ye  are  brethren  "  (Matt.  xiii.  8).  And 
they  are  His  brethren  ( John  xx  17 ; 
Luke  viii.  21) ;  but  if  His  brethren,  could 
they  be  anything  else  than  brethren  to 
one  another } 


The  Christian  in  the  Church  149 

The  Love  of  the  Brethren. 

From  the  recognition  of  the  relation- 
ships there  naturally  sprang  a  peculiar  af- 
fection, that  of  brotherly  love.  It  has 
already  been  remarked  (p.  46.)  that  Chris- 
tian love  must  be  all-comprehensive  ;  but 
all-comprehensiveness  is  by  no  means  in- 
consistent with  discrimination.  To  love 
one's  enemies  is  just  as  much  a  Christian 
duty  as  to  love  one's  friends.  But  it  is  as 
impossible  to  bestow  the  same  kind  of  af- 
fection alike  on  friends  and  enemies  as  it 
is  to  think  of  one's  enemies  as  friends  and 
of  friends  as  enemies.  Neither  the  prin- 
ciple nor  the  example  of  Jesus  points  to 
a  blotting  out  of  all  distinctions  and  the 
dealing  out  of  affection  to  all  in  equal 
measure  and  of  identical  kind.  Every 
special  relationship  creates  a  special  bond 
whose  strength  and  value  depend  upon 
the  conditions  that  call  it  forth. 

The  relationship  created  by  community 
of  life  and  interest  in  the  Kingdom  of  God 


150  Christian  Conduct 

engenders  a  unique  bond.  Here  the  con- 
ditions for  intimacy  are  so  favorable  that 
the  love  for  one  another  of  those  v^^ho 
recognize  in  each  other  the  special  signs 
of  loyalty  to  a  common  Master  takes  a 
new  name.  The  early  Christians  called 
it  the  '*love  of  the  brethren"  (<^tXaSeX^ta). 
Its  distinctive  sign  was  its  resemblance  to 
the  love  which  Christ  displayed  for  His 
followers.  "  A  new  commandment  I 
give  unto  you,  that  ye  love  one  another ; 
even  as  I  have  loved  you,  that  ye  also  love 
one  another.  By  this  shall  all  men  know 
that  ye  are  my  disciples,  if  ye  have  love 
one  to  another  "  (John  xiii.  34,  35). 

Distinctive  Signs  of  Brotherly  Love 

What,  then,  was  the  character  of  His 
love  to  them  ?  How  did  it  differ  from 
other  forms  of  love  ?  First  of  all,  it  was 
spontaneous  and  not  responsive.  He 
first  loved  them  because  His  Father  in 
heaven  wished  to  have  them  made  the 
recipients    of    a    special    blessing.     His 


The  Christian  in  the  Church  151 

love  sprang  not  from  the  discovery  of 
any  ground  or  conditions  in  them.  It 
had  its  roots  in  the  mere  fact  that  they 
were  to  enjoy  the  privileges  of  the  chil- 
dren of  God.  That  was  sufficient.  So 
the  Christian  must  love  those  who  bear 
the  name  of  Christ  before  they  have 
done  anything  to  show  that  they  merit 
that  love.  The  mere  fact  that  they  have 
identified  themselves  with  the  cause  and 
name  of  Christ  should  of  itself  be  suffi- 
cient as  an  appeal  to  the  Christian's  heart, 
to  rouse  in  him  the  love  of  the  brethren. 
If  this  love  shall  be  like  Christ's,  how- 
ever, it  must,  further,  be  a  self-denying 
love.  It  is  easy  to  love  when  it  costs 
nothing.  It  is  easier  to  love  when  love 
produces  satisfaction.  Such  love,  how- 
ever, is  more  or  less  selfish.  It  is  not  so 
easy  to  love  when  sacrifice  of  time  and 
comfort  and  life  are  sure  to  follow.  But 
that  is  the  type  of  love  that  Christ  leaves 
as  an  example  to  His  followers.  '*  A,s  I 
have  loved  you." 


152  Christian  Conduct 

Duties  of  Christian  Brotherhood :  Care  for 
the  Brother  s  Soul 

The  duties  which  grow  out  of  broth- 
erly love  are  pointed  out  quite  clearly. 
One  of  them  is  to  do  all  that  it  is  possible 
towards  helping  the  brother  in  the  right 
path.  A  case  is  supposed  :  If  a  brother 
offend,  the  first  duty  is  to  give  him  an 
opportunity  in  a  private  interview  to  cor- 
rect his  offence.  If  this  should  prove  in- 
sufficient, a  second  and  more  earnest 
effort  must  be  made.  Before  a  limited 
number  of  witnesses,  he  should  lovingly 
be  called  upon  to  recognize  and  make 
amends  for  his  fault.  But  if  this  also 
prove  a  failure,  a  third  and  more  im- 
pressive appeal  to  his  conscience  should 
be  made  before  the  whole  body  of  those 
who  love  Christ,  the  Church.  If  he 
prove  intractable  to  all  these  influences, 
then,  and  only  then,  may  one  cease  to 
regard  him  as  a  brother  in  Christ.  All 
this  is  evidently  intended  rather  to  secure 


The  Christian  in  the  Church  153 

the  rescue  of  the  sinning  brother  than  to 
guarantee  the  rendering  of  justice  to  the 
one  sinned  against.  It  is  rather  the  per- 
formance of  the  duty  of  guardianship 
than  that  of  the  vindication  of  law. 

//.  Mutual  Service 

In  a  similar  strain  is  the  principle  of 
mutual  service  in  the  organization  of  be- 
lievers. An  organization  must  have  offi- 
cers and  regulations  subordinating  some 
to  the  authority  of  others.  While  this 
is  a  necessity,  those  who  are  ambitious  to 
fill  the  places  of  office  in  the  church 
should  see  that  their  ambition  is  rooted 
in  the  desire  to  serve  not  in  the  love  of 
authority.  The  lust  for  dominion  is  es- 
sentially a  non-Christian  sentiment.  "  Ye 
know  that  the  rulers  of  the  Gentiles  lord 
it  over  them,  and  their  great  ones  exer- 
cise authority  over  them.  Not  so  shall 
it  be  among  you  ;  but  whosoever  would 
become  great  among  you  shall  be  your 
minister ;  and  whosoever  would  be  first 


154  Christian  Conduct 

among  you  shall  be  your  servant  "  (Matt. 
XX.  25-27  ;  also  Matt,  xxiii.  8-10,  ''  Be 
ye  not  called  Rabbi,"  etc.).  In  other 
words,  mutual  helpfulness  is  the  distin- 
guishing badge  of  the  disciples  in  their  re- 
lations with  one  another  as  disciples.  Of 
course,  essentially,  the  disciple's  conduct 
towards  all  men,  even  those  without  the 
circle  to  which  he  belongs,  should  be 
one  of  self-sacrificing  service.  The  dif- 
ference between  his  attitude  towards 
men  at  large  and  his  attitude  towards  his 
fellow-disciples  is  simply  that  with  ref- 
erence to  the  latter,  in  the  nature  of 
the  case,  a  tenderer  feeling  pervades, 
and  an  expectation  of  responsiveness 
exists. 

///.  Submission  to  the  Brethren  in  Love 

For  if  it  is  incumbent  to  exercise  a 
certain  watchful  care  over  those  who, 
like  him,  bear  the  name  of  Christ,  it  is 
also  incumbent  on  him  to  receive  from 
his  brethren  the  word  of  exhortation  and 


The  Christian  in  the  Church  155 

admonition  with  fraternal   trust   in   the 
underlying  love  that  prompts  it. 

Finally,  the  Christian  owes  a  duty  to 
the  Church  as  a  whole.  He  must  con- 
tribute all  the  service  of  which  he  is  ca- 
pable towards  its  helpful  life  and  expan- 
sion. It  is  his  part  to  preserve  it  from 
all  corruption  and  make  it  the  most 
effective  vehicle  towards  the  carrying  out 
of  Christ's  desire  to  conquer  the  world 
and  bring  it  into  subjection  to  God. 

Jesus  and  Public  Worship 

Of  worship,  whether  in  the  Church 
or  apart  from  its  public  function,  Jesus 
has  little  to  say.  It  was  a  part  of  that 
external  sphere  whose  exact  forms  al- 
ways depend  on  changing  conditions  and 
circumstances.  Though  He  is  not  any- 
where recorded  to  have  offered  sacrifices 
at  the  Temple,  or  fasted.  He  does  not 
forbid  others  from  doing  so.  On  the 
contrary,  He  distinctly  implies  that  life 
would  furnish  emergencies  for  the  ex- 


156  Christian  Conduct 

pression  of  the  spirit  in  fasting  and  self- 
denial.  He  does,  however,  see  and  warn 
against  the  danger  of  hypocrisy  in  such 
matters.  When  religious  practices  are 
actuated  not  by  the  impulse  to  express 
the  content  of  the  heart,  but  by  the  de- 
sire for  ostentation  or  by  worse  motives, 
His  denunciation  of  them  is  unmeasured. 
On  the  other  hand,  nothing  exceeds  in 
its  cordiality  and  warmth  His  commenda- 
tion of  simple  acts  of  religious  service 
which  truly  represent  a  healthy  spiritual 
condition.  The  widow  with  her  two 
mites  stands  on  a  vastly  higher  plain  than 
all  those  who  out  of  their  abundance  had 
cast  into  the  treasury  their  incomparably 
larger  offerings.  He  judged  them  all 
not  by  what  they  gave,  but  by  what  they 
had  left.  They  had  practically  as  much 
as  before  they  made  their  contributions. 
Therefore,  she  excelled  them. 

But  at  this  point,  Christian  conduct 
once  more  ceases  to  be  a  mere  matter  of 
external  relationships  and  passes  into  the 


The  Christian  in  the  Church  157 

realm  of  the  inner  life.  It  issues  in  the 
love  of  God  and  His  Kingdom,  runs  the 
whole  circle  of  earthly  relationships  and 
returns  to  the  love  for  God  and  man, 
which  will  not  allow  its  possessor  to  re- 
main satisfied  with  his  own  assured  bless- 
edness, but  is  destined  to  lead  him  to 
communicate  the  good  he  has  to  others 
as  widely  as  possible. 


CHAPTER  XIII 

Summary. 

/T  will  be  unnecessary,  after  what  has 
been  said,  to  call  special  attention  to 
the  absolute  uniqueness  of  the  ethi- 
cal teaching  of  Jesus.  It  differs  from 
every  other  system  the  world  has  ever 
seen.  Even  what  is  called  Christian 
ethics  must  not  be  mistaken  for  Jesus' 
idea  of  righteousness.  Christian  ethics 
is  an  interpretation  of  the  thought  of 
Jesus ;  and,  like  all  interpretations,  it  is 
only  an  approximation.  Christian  ethics 
is  a  growing  science.  It  grows  by  the 
addition  through  experience  of  the  new 
1 58 


Summary  1 59 

insight  gained  into  the  ideal  at  its  core. 
**  If  any  man  willeth  to  do  His  will,  he 
shall  know  of  the  teaching."  As  Chris- 
tians earnestly  accept  and  practice  the 
principles  of  Jesus,  they  discover  more 
and  more  of  the  divine  mind  in  them. 
Meantime,  the  ideal  remains  always  in 
advance  of  the  actual,  whether  that  actual 
be  embodied  in  a  theoretical  statement 
of  what  conduct  should  be,  or  in  a  prac- 
tical expression  of  conduct  in  life. 

The  chief  features  of  Jesus'  ideal  of 
conduct  may  be  summed  up  in  the  fol- 
lowing : 

1.  Jesus  shows  conduct  as  the  result 
of  a  vital  inner  force.  Conduct  may  be 
produced  mechanically,  as  when  certain 
unvarying  rules  are  blindly  obeyed.  It 
may  be  produced  dynamically  as  when 
some  motive,  be  it  selfish  or  altruistic, 
actuates  it ;  but  it  may  be  the  result  of  a 
vital  unifying,  organizing  and  integrating 
energy.  In  the  ideal  of  Jesus  it  is  this, 
and  the  force  which  produces  it  is  love. 


i6o  Christian  Conduct 

2.  Jesus  shows  conduct  to  be  a  matter 
of  divine  concern.  Its  roots  and  its  issue 
are  in  eternity.  No  one  who  appreciates 
the  thought  of  the  Master  can  live  as  if 
what  he  did  was  his  own  business  only. 
Or  that  it  began  and  ended  in  this  earthly 
existence.  The  picture  of  a  great  judg- 
ment and  reward  according  to  the  deeds 
done  in  the  body  is  necessary  to  fill  out 
Jesus'  idea  of  conduct  as  a  whole. 

3.  Jesus  not  only  tells  what  conduct 
should  be,  but  lives  it ;  and  He  proves 
thereby  that  it  is  no  mere  vision  in  the 
clouds  which  cannot  be  brought  down  to 
earth.  But  through  this  same  feature  of 
it.  He  shows  the  perfection  of  the  ideal. 
Perfection  includes  the  best  quality  in 
the  highest  quantity  and  with  absolute 
proportion  and  harmony  of  parts.  The 
revelation  of  perfection  in  Jesus  shows 
the  disciple  what  he  ought  to  do,  what 
he  can  do,  but  what  he  has  not  done ; 
it  thus  drives  him  to  seek  for  his  peace 
of  mind  and  his  hope  of  blessedness  not 


Smnmary  i6i 

in  the  sphere  of  outward  conduct,  but 
in  the  inner  life  of  his  relation  with  the 
Father. 

4.  Jesus  gives  a  true  starting-point  and 
standard  for  conduct  in  a  just  and  sane 
self-regard.  Complete  self-regard  be- 
gins with  self-discovery,  proceeds  with 
self-study  and  self-mastery,  rises  to  self- 
esteem  and  culminates  in  self-culture, 
including  self-development  and  self- 
realization. 

5.  Jesus  unifies  and  universalizes  the 
social  principle  in  conduct.  Modern 
science,  through  the  spectroscope,  re- 
veals the  fact  that  the  same  ultimate  ele- 
ments and  the  same  forces  are  found 
throughout  the  whole  universe.  Science 
appears  indeed  to  be  coming  to  the  con- 
clusion that  all  the  various  forces  are 
forms  of  but  one  energy.  Jesus  antici- 
pates this  conclusion  of  physical  science 
in  the  moral  world.  He  posits  at  the 
centre  of  all  moral  action  the  one  law  of 
love.     Whether  in  the  state,  in  society, 

K 


1 62  Christian  Conduct 

in  the  home,  in  commerce  and  industry 
or  in  the  church,  the  one  normal  motive 
for  action  is  love. 

6.  Finally,  Jesus  shows  the  goal  of  all 
conduct  to  be  assimilation  to  the  one 
absolute  and  ultimate  personality,  the 
heavenly  Father.  *'Ye  therefore  shall 
be  perfect,  as  your  heavenly  Father  is 
perfect."  Man  was  made  in  the  image 
of  God,  and  to  possess  this  image  in  per- 
fection is  the  highest  achievement  of  his 
moral  activities. 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS 

A 

Adaptation  in  teaching,  29,  30. 
Alexandrian  psychology,  16. 
Altruism,  65,  70. 
Am  Haareis,  21. 
Anger,  99,  108. 
Arnold,  Matthew,  10. 

B 
Beatitudes,  98. 
Body,  care  for,  81  fF. 
Briggs,  4. 
Brotherhood  of  Disciples,  148. 

leads  to  mutual  care,  152. 

mutual  service,  153. 

submission  to  one  another,  154. 
Buddha,  38. 

C 

Caesar's  authority,  115. 
Cambridge  Ms.  of  Gospels,  95,  96. 

163 


164  Index  of  Subjects 

Chastity,  132,  133. 
Church,  founded  by  Jesus,  146. 
Commercial  relations,  136  f. 
Conduct,  its  importance,  lO. 

and  life,  12,  84,  156. 

and  religion,  17. 
Confucius,  38. 
Conscience,  25. 

D 

Decalogue,  32,  39,  90. 
Divorce,  Jesus  on,  128. 

E 
Edersheim,  88  n. 
Epicureans,  39. 
Essenes,  16. 
Ethics,  Christian,  158. 

and  psychology,  14. 

of  the  Old  Testament,  31,  32,  44, 

of  Paganism,  37  fF. 

of  Pharisees,  47  ff. 

F 

Family  of  divine  origin,  126,  127. 
Fatherhood  of  God,  54, 
Fourth  Gospel,  problem  of,  7. 


Index  of  Subjects  165 

G 

Genuineness  of  sayings  of  Jesus,  3. 
Gibbon,  61  n. 
Golden  rule,  60. 

originality  of,  62. 

pre-Christian  forms,  61. 
Gospel  criticism,  i  ff. 
Government,  functions  of,  116. 
Grenfell  &  Hunt,  5, 

H 

Hedge  of  the  law,  49. 

Hillel,  62. 

Home  relations  in  Jesus'  day,  125. 

ideal  relations  in,  133. 
Hyde,  W.  D.,  39. 

I 

Immortality,  18. 
Intuitional  ethics,  24. 

J 

Josephus,  16  n. 

Julicher,  5. 

K 

Kant,  65. 

Kingdom  of  God,  8,  41,  81,  94,  132,  149,  157. 


1 66  Index  of  Subjects 

L 

Legge,  6i. 

Lex  talionis^  lOO. 

Love,  the  law  of,  9,  44,  71. 

root  of  all  morality,  55,  117. 

concretely  illustrated,  97. 

many-sided,  1 10. 

has  a  sphere  in  the  home,  124. 

in  business  life,  143. 

adapted  to  the   Church,  147. 
Love  of  the  brethren,  149,  150. 
its  distinctive  signs,  150  fF. 

M 

Marriage,  129,  130,  132. 
Morality,  taught  by  Jesus,  55,  56. 

inwardness  of,  56. 

freedom,  57, 

comprehensiveness,  58. 
Mutuahsm,  64,  70. 

N 
Nietzsche,  Friedrich,  73. 
Non-resistance  of  evil,  103. 

o 

Offences,  98. 


Index  of  Subjects  167 

Old  Testament  ethics,  31,  32,  44. 
Old  Testament  Theology,  40,  41. 

view  of  the  Sabbath,  86. 

P 

Pagan  ethics,  37  ff. 

Parables,  Good  Samaritan,  46. 

Prodigal,  75. 
Personality  supreme,  119,  142. 
Pharisaic  ethics,  47  fF. 
Pharisee,  22,  52,  57. 
Philo,  views  of  the  origin  of  man,  16. 
Politics,  Jesus'  attitude  towards,  113,  114. 
Prophets,  35,  40,  41. 
Property,  Jesus'  teaching  on,  139. 

R 

Retaliation,  99. 
Righteousness,  43. 

of  God,  53. 

.  S 

Sabbath,  the,  85  fF. 

adaptability,  91. 

change  of  method  of  observance,  92, 

man's  need  of,  89. 

means  of  culture,  85. 


1 68  Index  of  Subjects 

Sabbath,    means  of  holiness,  86. 

Old  Testament  law  of,  86. 
Rabbinical  legislation,  87. 
Sadducees,  18. 
Schmiedel,  2. 
Self,  love  of,  72  fF. 

provided  for  in  nature,  72,  73. 

knowledge  of,  74  fF, 

mastery  of,  78  ff. 
Sermon  on  the  Mount,  97,  98. 
Shammai,  62. 
Socrates,  38. 
Stoics,  38. 
Synoptic  problem,  6. 


Utilitarianism,  22. 


U 


w 


Wealth,  its  perils,  141. 

right  use  of,  143. 

subordinate  to  character,  142. 
Wellhausen,  36. 
Wernle,  5. 
Westcott,  96. 
Widow  with  two  mites,  156. 


Index  of  Subjects  169 

Wisdom,  form  of  teaching,  4. 

Woman,  Jesus'  views  of  her  position,  134  f. 

Worship,  155. 

Z 

Zacchaeus,  conversion  of,  140. 


INDEX  OF   TEXTS. 


Matthew  v.  20 

47 

Matthew  XX.  25 

22 

22 

108 

27 

154 

28 

133 

xxii.  21 

115 

29 

80 

32 

19 

32 

129 

35,39 

45,54 

vi. 

39  ff. 

44 
48 
25  fF. 

103 

60 
26 
82 

xxiii.     4 
8 
XXV.  14—30 
xxvi.     7 

52 

10 
141 

143 

vii. 

33 
12 

53 

60 

Mark  ii.  26  ff. 

89 

viii. 

14 

140 

27.  28 

89 

X. 

28  ff. 

15,  23 

vii.  8-13 

48 

xii 

II  ff. 

89 

10-13 

134 

xiii. 

8 

148 

x.  45 

22 

xvi. 

26 

80 

xviii. 

21 

99 

Luke  vi.  4 

96 

xix. 

4,5 

127 

9 

89 

9 

129 

viii.  21 

148 

12 
29 

73>  131 
23 

X.  25 
xi.  46 

46 
26 

170 

Index  of  Texts 


171 


Luke  xii.     4 
16-31 

33 
xiii.  3,  14 

xvi.  I— 13 

18 

xviii.  22 

25 
xix.    13—27 

John  vi.  63 
viii.  22 
X.  10 
xii.  1-5 


15 
141 
140 

89 
141 
129 

139 
142 
141 

105 

89 

II 

140 


xiii. 

passim. 

III 

34,  35 

150 

xvi. 

33 

23 

xvii. 

4 

18 

xviii. 

22,  23 

104 

xix. 

12 

114 

XX. 

17 

148 

I  Timothy  vi.  15  19 

I  Peter  ii.  22,  23  27 

Hebrews  i.  i  42 


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